The More Things Change
by RoguesKnight
Summary: Post Chosen & X2. Buffy X-Men Crossover. A certain one eyed carpenter gets a call from a certain mutant, what happens next is anyone's guess. XanderMarie (Rogue) friendship, maybe more. PG-13 for now. Finally updated ch.10 up!
1. Default Chapter

The More Things Change Author: RoguesKnight  
  
Disclaimer : The characters in this story do not belong to me. I wish they did, their lives would be happier and so would mine since I wouldn't have to worry about a mountain of debt once I finish college. They are the property of Marvel Comics, 20th Century Fox, Mutant Enemy, Joss Whedon and are protected by a slew of lawyers. I'm just borrowing them for a bit and will return them, relatively, unharmed.  
  
Summary: Sequel to Uncommon Knowledge, so you might want to read that one first for background. Buffy the Vampire Slayer/ X-Men the movie cross over. Set post Chosen and X2. What happens when a certain one-eyed carpenter receives an unexpected call from an old friend?  
  
Rating: PG-13, for language and situations at least. May change as story progresses. *************************************************************************** **  
  
Rogue sat in silence on the couch in the common room of Xavier's Institute for Gifted Youngsters, her gloved hands resting in her lap. To her right was her boyfriend, Bobby Drake, better known to the students and faculty as Iceman, randomly flipping through the channels of the large screen TV in obvious boredom. The casual observer might have caught on to the underlying tension in the room and deduce that the young couple was on the outs with each other; the more observant students at the institute might even chalk up the chilliness of the room to Drake's "gift". The reality of the situation was that the recent events in Boston and Alkali Lake had put a tremendous amount of strain on everyone involved and though life had slowly began to return to normal, or as close to it as life at the institute came, for some it was taking longer than for others. Rogue, who had just begun to really open up to others had quickly shut herself off again, taking to bundling herself almost from head to toe. Bobby's attitude had taken almost as drastic turn, gone was the carefree joker of the students and in his place remained a man almost as cold as the ice he created. As a result, the two's relationship had become increasingly tenuous, with little things often blossoming into arguments that grew into screamfests complete with slamming doors and tears.  
  
Flip. * Another channel another five seconds before he changes it again * Rogue thought bitterly, glancing at Bobby from the corner of her eye. * Why didn't I notice how impatient he was before now? Always trying to move our relationship to the "next level" * She shut off her thoughts before she could give herself an honest answer to the question and tried to focus on the screen. It was, after all, easier than trying to strike up a conversation with the subject of her thoughts. An immaculately made up anchorwoman sat behind a standard news style desk that could have belonged to any network, trying to maintain a professional demeanor.  
  
" Violence erupted in several cities around the nation this afternoon," the anchorwoman intoned monotonously, " in response to the President's recent address to the nation in which he called for an attitude of compassion while a committee is convened to investigate the recent mutant attack that left several, mostly the elderly and very young, dead as it swept the globe. The "human rights" group known as the Friends of Humanity have claimed responsibility for every disturbance and a statement from the group's headquarters promises more violence until the government passes the long debated Mutant Registration Act or finds a more permanent solution to the "Mutant Problem".  
  
A sharp crack filled the silence of the room, drawing Rogue's eyes from the screen to her companion. Bobby's eyes flicked from the screen to the now broken and thoroughly iced over remote control in his hand and finally met Rogues. The clear blue eyes she had once loved to gaze into were now filled with disgust that matched the frown frozen on his face. " It's bullshit," he growled, " Once again we get blamed for everything. Odds are that the President's committee will completely overlook the fact that it was a human organization that was inadvertently responsible for that "attack". It was humans who wanted to kill not only us but every mutant on the planet just because we're different and we're still the bad guys. What next, torches and pitchforks? Jealous, pathetic, losers..." he trailed off and it didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out just where his thoughts had settled.  
  
"Bobby." Rogue tried, reaching out to him, physically and metaphorically, "It's not their fault, not all of theirs anyway. There are some decent humans.Ah mean people." She absolutely hated referring to people without mutant abilities as humans, it wasn't as if mutants weren't human too. That kind of us versus them thinking reminded her all to well of Magneto. Unfortunately, as more often than not, her words fell on deaf ears as Bobby pushed her gloved hands away, standing up angrily.  
  
" Save it Rogue," he snapped, " I'm so sick and tired of you taking their side in things, trying to be little miss peace maker. If you honestly think you're filling in for Dr. Grey in some way you're sadly mistaken." Without another word he stormed out of the room, leaving Rogue alone with her thoughts.  
  
She knew that he was still hurt by his family's reaction to the revelation that he was a mutant and the Ronnie's call to the Boston Police but his comment about Jean was just uncalled for. After the Liberty Island incident, as it was officially called by the authorities, Jean Grey had been the first person other than the Professor to reach out to Rogue. She had understood Rogue's feelings about Logan and had helped her to deal not only with them, but with the memories she'd absorbed from him. In the months between Logan's departure and just as sudden return, the redhead had become something of a surrogate older sister for Rogue. After Scott and Logan, Rogue had been the most affected by Jean's sacrifice at Alkali Lake. * If only Ah hadn't crashed the jet * She thought morosely * If Ah had had any idea of how to fly, maybe she wouldn't have had to do what she did * She was pulled out of her thoughts by the sound of the news returning from a commercial. * Ah should just shut that off, get out of the house for awhile. Clear my head.* Rogue pushed herself off of the couch and made her way over to the TV slowly, trying to wake her legs back up. Just as she was about to press the power button an item caught her attention.  
  
"..has seriously damaged the southern California town of Sunnydale," the same anchorwoman from before was saying, " for more on this story we go live to our Tom Marshall live from what remains of the town. Are you there Tom?"  
  
" I'm here Candy." A dark skinned reporter answered as the scene changed to a stretch of lonely highway surrounded by desert vegetation leading into an enormous hole in the ground, " Damaged is putting the fate of this town lightly. There is nothing left of this once quiet area of California. It appears that a gigantic sinkhole has opened up underneath the town and swallowed it completely as you can see" The scene shifted suddenly to an aerial view, obviously from a news chopper. " Seismologists have estimated that the center of the crater is located at what once was the town's high school. They're puzzled however, as to how it formed as the rockbed around the area is fairly solid and undisturbed, it's almost as if a mouth has just swallowed the town and perhaps all of its residents. Rescue crews have been dispatched, and though they have found no bodies as of yet, it's still too early to know the exact death toll of this catastrophe".  
  
The scene switched back to the anchor desk, but Rogue didn't even notice, something about that story had triggered memories deep inside her unconscious and she was trying to figure out just what they meant. * Sunnydale..why does that name sound familiar? * she wondered. Images began flashing across her mind.fangs.fear.dust. Still more images.a boy.dark hair.comfort.understanding.a motel room.until finally a name registered in her brain. Xander. In a flash Rogue flew from the common room, her feet pounding along the corridors of the institute as she neared her destination, dodging the occasional student with deft grace and ignoring the strange glances she got along the way. Finally she reached the solid oak door to Professor Xavier's office and opened it hurriedly, rushing inside without waiting for an invitation.  
  
As usual Professor Charles Xavier sat behind his desk, his hands resting on top of it, folded together peacefully, and smiling as if he'd expected her. Perhaps he had. Being the world's foremost telepath it was highly likely that he'd caught her desperation long before she'd reached his office. The serenity of his posture and expression was enough to make her calm down a bit and she even felt a little foolish just barging in unannounced. Trying to organize her thoughts, Rogue ran a gloved hand through her hair, pushing a few strands of permanently white hair back into place, and looked around the office. It was only then that she realized that she wasn't alone with the Professor. Both Logan and Scott were in the room as well and her heart gave a tug as she could only guess what, or rather who, the three men had been talking about. Logan at least acknowledged her presence with a curious lift of the eyebrow. He was attired in his usual rough style, black leather jacket over a black and red plaid shirt, dark blue jeans, and dark work boots. All that was missing was his customary cigar, she suspected out of respect for the Professor, and his dog tag. She realized with a start that she hadn't noticed him wearing it since Alkali Lake. Scott, on the other hand, didn't react at all. He was dressed in a preppy red polo shirt with khaki pants and leather loafers. Covering he eyes, however, was his visor. He'd become harder after the Alkali Lake incident, and almost always wore the visor unless absolutely necessary, it was a constant reminder of what he'd lost there.  
  
Rogue was broken out of her thoughts by the Professor's gentle voice, " Is there something we can help you with Rogue?"  
  
" Ah can come back later Professor. Ah didn't mean to interrupt anything important, Ah guess Ah just got carried away. It's not that pressing really." She blushed. Even though she'd hated her mother's trying to teach her to be a proper southern lady as she grew up, some things just stuck with her and deference to her elders was one of them.  
  
" No, it's quite alright Rogue," came the calm reply, " After the incident with Stryker and his men, we've been considering how best to increase security here. Scott and Logan were just having a difference of opinion on exactly what that would entail and managed to get me stuck in the middle of it." He smiled, " And as I'm quite sure that that particular issue is far from resolved, I'm sure we'll have another opportunity to discuss it. If that's alright with you gentlemen." He added, almost as an afterthought. The other two men nodded their understanding and left the room without a word. " Now Rogue," Charles said again, maneuvering his chair out from behind the desk and rolling up next to her, " how can I help you?".  
  
" Ah need you to read my mind," She stated simply. At his questioning glance she explained about the newscast and her life before she ended up at the institute, opening up more than she had in the almost two years he had known her. " Ah was kinda hoping you could read my mind so you would know what Xander feels like and not have to go searching through every one in California to find him. If he's still alive that is." She added uncertainly. Charles nodded slowly, while he was reluctant to enter others' minds, let alone use cerebro after what Stryker had nearly done, Rogue's concern for the young man who had saved her life and shown her a different side to humanity was almost tangible. Closing his eyes he quickly scanned her mind, searching out only the relevant information. After a moment, he opened them and smiled.  
  
" From what I've found, I don't think it will be too hard to locate Mr. Harris if he's still among the living. You certainly have a knack for finding the strangest men to befriend," Professor Xavier said to a visibly relieved Rogue, " Why don't you come down with me to Cerebro and we'll see what we can find?". His anxiety over using the device vanished almost immediately as he picked up on the rush of joy coming off the young woman that preceded the hug he suddenly found himself enveloped in.  
  
" Thank you Professor, thank you!" She smiled and almost pranced to the door, full of nervous energy. Even the sound of the Professor's amused chuckle as he wheeled his way past her to the elevator couldn't diminish her hope. As she followed behind him Rogue wondered how she could have possibly forgotten Xander and all that she'd learned from him about the real reality of the world. * Ah guess Ah just got so caught up in the whole tension between humans and mutants that Ah didn't think about the fact that we weren't the only ones with an interest in the fate of the planet * She thought, standing quietly next to the Professor in the elevator. If he had read her mind, he didn't say anything.  
  
Moments later Rogue stood anxiously behind the Professor in the reconstructed Cerebro room. " Just don't move" He instructed her, as he lowered the helmet into place over his head. For her part, Rogue had no intention what so ever of moving, she still wasn't exactly sure what it was she was seeing when the room seemed to explode outward and the wall in front of them was replaced with a map of California. She understood the white lights along the map were humans, but it was unnerving just how detailed the images were as they floated past her. As the Professor focused his search the map seemed to grow larger, swirling inward until just the image of a young man floated before them. His back was turned, and he was a little more muscular than Rogue remembered, but there was no doubt in her mind that it was Xander. A moment later the image disappeared as Professor Xavier removed the helmet.  
  
" He's in Los Angeles," he said holding up a hand to forestall any questions, " Working for a Detective Agency based out of the Hyperion hotel. Here's the number," he scribbled down a number on a pad of paper he'd had inside his suit jacket and handed it to Rogue. " Why don't you give him a call, and don't worry about the long distance charges, talk as long as you want." The words were barely out of his mouth before Rogue disappeared, a quick * Thank you Professor! * floating back to him. 


	2. Reach out and touch someone

The More Things Change  
  
Chapter 2: Reach out and touch someone  
  
Author: RoguesKnight  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own them. Never have, probably never will. Just borrowing them for awhile and will return them to their respective homes none the worse for wear ( I hope ). If any lawyers for Fox, Mutant Enemy, Marvel, or Joss Whedon are reading this please don't sue. And if you know of any openings in the companies you represent...I wouldn't turn down the job.  
  
Author's note: I never really paid attention to Angel: The Series so things on that front may be a little sketchy. To those who wonder what the Scoobies are doing in L.A. I just figured that would be the most natural place to go after the destruction of Sunnydale. And finally, to my reviewers who've been so kind, thank you!! It's amazing to wake up mere hours after posting something to see such encouraging words. I do it all for you guys.  
  
Xander Harris swiftly turned around in the lobby of the Hyperion, his one good eye quickly searching the room. He couldn't quite explain it but he had the strangest feeling that someone had been watching him. " Hello?" he called tentatively. Getting no reply he shrugged and turned back around and continued on to the desk that had been set up for him. * Too much time spent around the supernatural * he thought, pushing back his plush leather desk chair and sitting down. It had been a mere week and a half since Sunnydale had been sucked into the depths of the hell that had spawned it and already he had a place with Angel Investigations. He hated to admit it, but coming to stay with Deadboy and his crew had been the most logical thing to do with everything in Sunnydale buried under a ton of rubble. The hotel had more than enough rooms to accommodate the new Slayers that were being brought in on almost a daily basis and there was enough evil in the city for them to get used to fighting in relative safety. Buffy and Faith, along with a few of the others who'd survived the battle against the First had organized group patrols of new Slayers so they could get used to fighting and working as a group, which had quickly become the new model for slaying. The upside was that with all of the new Slayers, the forces of evil in Los Angeles were kept in check to the point that Deadboy's agency actually attracted more mundane cases as well as the supernatural ones, which meant paying customers more often than not which thrilled Cordelia to no end. The down side was that with more super-powered people around to fight the good fight, he was more often than not pushed to the edge of the group.  
  
Fortunately, or unfortunately, depending on how you looked at it, Cordelia had noticed the growing estrangement and offered him an actual job with the agency. He'd accepted in a heartbeat, figuring that he could get a cool trench coat to accent his eye patch and would hang out in bars trying to beat information out of people. Cordelia, it seemed, had had other plans, which was how Xander found himself sitting at a desk waiting for the phone to ring. * At least the accommodations aren't half bad * he smiled, stretching his legs beneath his desk and leaning back against the soft leather upholstery. The sound of the front door slamming open caused him to bolt upright and try to look productive, shuffling papers on his desk. The source of the commotion was, not surprisingly, Cordelia and Gunn having another one of their arguments about god only knows what. Xander nodded a greeting to the pair that went unnoticed as they continued squabbling past his desk and headed off into the depths of the building, probably to find and annoy Angel with whatever their dispute was about. At a more leisurely pace came Wesley, looking a bit bedraggled. Unlike the first two he not only acknowledged Xander's greeting with a nod and smile of his own, but grabbed a nearby chair and rolled it over to the younger man's desk. " So, what were the dynamic duo fighting about this time?" Xander asked, nodding his head back in the direction that they'd gone."  
  
The former Watcher slowly ran a hand through his hair and let out a deep sigh before answering, " What else? The business of course. I believe Gunn's feeling a bit put out by the new Slayers taking over so much of the actual evil fighting and he believes that in taking on so many non- supernatural cases we've lost sight of the point of Angel Investigations. Cordelia on the other hand, thinks that we should not only continue taking on mundane cases but should expand our services perhaps to include protection as well."  
  
Xander blinked, " Protection? You mean body guarding? You can't tell me that Cordy actually thinks that we're going to attract big name clients who would want us as body guards when they can hire people with actual experience." He grabbed the cooling cup of coffee on the desk and took a long sip as he waited for the answer.  
  
Wesley actually chuckled, " You're going to love this. You've noticed how most of the new Slayers are rather, ah, attractive young women, I'm sure." Xander nodded, a grin tugging at his lips, even though Wesley hadn't been a Watcher for years now, there were moments when he still reminded Xander of the tight assed British guy he'd been when they first met. " Well, Cordelia believes that they could be more effective than most body guards not only because of their enhanced abilities but because no one would ever suspect a beautiful young woman to pose the kind of threat that our Slayers could."  
  
Xander gaped in astonishment, his mouth working soundlessly for a few moments before he found his voice again. " I'd say that you're joking but in the entire time I've known you, you haven't made a single decent joke. That's insane. Has she forgotten the wonderfully fun events when Faith decided that there was nothing wrong with taking on humans?" Off Wesley's wince, Xander quickly apologized, " Sorry, forgot for a second who I was talking to man. But there is no way that anyone could possibly agree that this is a good idea. Whole packs of Slayers who wouldn't necessarily see the need to limit their fighting to the supernatural baddies out there."  
  
Wesley nodded in agreement, " If there was a way to ensure they wouldn't go rogue on us it wouldn't be a bad idea, it would certainly give them a little more than constantly fighting for their lives but sadly we can't make any such guarantees." He sighed resignedly and glanced at the papers Xander had been shuffling on the desk. A slow smile crossed his features, " So, judging by our work sheets I gather that we have a meeting with tic tac toe later on, and this one for hangman, is that today or tomorrow? Really Xander, when such important individuals call you should be sure to get all the necessary information."  
  
Xander smiled sheepishly and gestured to the phone, " Well, you know how hard it is to keep track of everything the way that thing keeps ringing every five minutes. I tell ya, I'm going to need a prosthetic ear if the business keeps up at this pace." The two men shared a smile. " Seriously though, we did get a message from Giles. He's in Guam right now, and he's found yet another Slayer and miraculously this one had a living Watcher with her. He's trying to convince the Watcher to come back with her to serve as an interpreter."  
  
" That would be a blessing," Wesley conceded, " If I get sent on another run to every bookstore in town trying to find an English to whatever language we need dictionary, I'm going to scream." He pushed back from the desk and walked over to the coffee pot, grabbing the cleanest mug he could find and hesitantly examining the dark contents of the pot. " Is this any good?" he asked dubiously  
  
"Well Wes," Xander grinned, folding his arms behind his head, " good around here is a relative term. I mean come on, we work for a guy who was once the most feared vampire to ravage the European countryside and with a chick responsible for a few murders and beating you to a pulp. I think we can only ask so much of the coffee. Especially when you consider that it was made by one of the new Slayers."  
  
Wesley made a face before setting the mug back down and walking back to the desk empty handed. " Too true," he conceded, " and yet you're willing to drink it?"  
  
Xander leaned forward conspiratorially, " Let me tell you something Wes, loosing one eye kinda puts the whole idea of going blind into a different perspective. So I take my chances with Slayer brewed coffee.I mean, if I'm this productive with one good eye just imagine how much more I can get done without sight at all."  
  
The older man opened his mouth to say something but was cut off by the sound of the door opening. As one the two employees turned to face the sound. A well dressed man, not too much older than Xander from the looks of him had stepped into the office. He wore a dark black suit with a matching tie and sunglasses, Xander almost made a crack about the Men in Black finally looking in on their operation but decided that it wouldn't be the best idea in the world to piss off potential clients. " This is Angel Investigations, is it not?" the man asked, pulling off his sunglasses as he strode towards Xander and Wesley and revealing eyes almost as dark as the rest of his attire.  
  
" Yes, yes it is," Wesley said, standing and offering his hand to the stranger, " How might we be of service to you, Mr.?" The stranger regarded the proffered hand silently and sat on the edge of Xander's desk without taking it. Xander and Wesley shared a quick glance before focusing their attention on their visitor.  
  
" Rivers, John Rivers," the suited gentleman replied blandly, " I've heard that your agency is willing to handle .ah.problems that the normal law enforcement is either ill-equipped to address or simply won't admit exist, is this true?"  
  
" You've heard correctly Mr. Rivers ," Xander said jovially, " I'm Alexander Harris, and this is Wesley Wyndham Price, unfortunately our employer Angel is unavailable at the moment if you're looking for him. However, we'd be happy to help you in anyway possible ourselves while the boss is on another assignment. What seems to be the problem?"  
  
Rivers' dark eyes traveled from Xander, to Wesley, and back again coldly. After an awkward moment of silence he spoke again, " I wasn't looking for anyone in particular so you to are fine, provided you can actually handle my problem." If either man was insulted by the comment they didn't let it show. " I'm sure you're both aware of the mutant problem facing the world today," Rivers continued, almost spitting the word mutant, " especially after their recent global strike against humanity. I belong to an organization known as the Friends of Humanity and we're dedicated to solving the problem the government refuses to properly address. The only difficulty is, we don't know where they all are. That's where you come in. We're willing to pay quite handsomely if you'd do a little investigating and find every mutant and mutant hide out in our fair city here and turn the names and addresses over to us, no questions asked. What do you say, think you can handle it?" he smiled condescendingly.  
  
Like a shot, Xander flew from behind the desk with a grace that belied his handicap and slammed a fist into the side of Rivers' head, knocking the man off of the desk. Before Rivers had time to recover from the assault, Xander grabbed him by the lapel of his jacket and smashed him against the wall. " Listen here dirtbag," he growled dangerously, " This isn't Nazi Germany. Mutants have just as much a right to life as you or I do. We're not going to do your dirty work so you can kill innocent people, now I suggest that you take your racism and condescending attitude and get the hell out of this office before I kick your ass so hard you have to take your shirt of to."  
  
" Xander!," Wesley cried, finally getting over his shock at the outburst of violence in the normally easy going young man, " A simple no, we won't take the job would have sufficed. Now let him go before we have people coming out to see what all the commotion is up here." He stressed the word people and Xander seemed to take the hint, lowering Rivers to the floor and releasing him. The tension in the room was like a living, breathing thing until Rivers picked up his fallen sunglasses and stormed out of the building without another word. Wesley let out a breath that he hadn't been aware he was holding. " Now, would you mind telling me what that was all about? I'll grant you that I disapprove just as strongly of his group as you do, but that was uncalled for Xander."  
  
" Actually Wes," Xander began, " I would mind telling you what that was all about. Let's just leave it at I don't like assholes coming in here and asking us to help them kill innocent people just because they're made up a little bit differently. Mutants aren't necessarily monsters anymore than demons are, you've got your good and bad in everything. However, if groups like the Friends of Humanity really want to do the world a service, they should all commit suicide and rid the world of their hatred." With that he turned and started for the stairs up to his room.  
  
Wesley tried to think of something to say, something that might calm the young man, when the phone rang on Xander's desk. Automatically Wesley picked it up, " Angel Investigations, we help the hopeless," he said. There was a pause, " Ah, yes he does work here. Hold on one moment please and I'll see if he's available." He set the receiver on the desk with a curious glance and ran to the stairs, catching up with Xander. " It's for you," Wesley said by way of explanation, " some girl. She sounded rather relieved to hear that you indeed work here. You're not going to bars and just claiming to be a detective to pick up women again are you?"  
  
Xander ignored the lame attempt at humor and quickly headed back to the phone, curious as to who possibly could be calling for him. It wasn't as if he'd been doing much dating since Anya died. " Ummm.hello?" he asked, lifting the receiver to his ear.  
  
" Hello yourself Xander" came the reply, a warm softly accented woman's voice.  
  
" Who is this?" he asked. There was something familiar about the voice that began stirring things in his head but he couldn't put the pieces together.  
  
" Let's just say that Ah've stopped running," the voice teased. A sudden realization struck him and his hand involuntarily tightened on the receiver.  
  
" Marie," he said, the name coming out as the faintest whisper.  
  
Author's note: Yes, that's right chapter two ends in a cliffhanger. Aren't I evil? 


	3. A Voice from the Past

The More Things Change  
  
Author: RoguesKnight  
  
Chapter 3: A Voice from the Past  
  
Disclaimer: Guess what folks, still don't own them and surprisingly no lawyers have written to tell me about the wonderful job opportunities working for the people who do. Just borrowing them.ok.so Rivers was my creation but I don't really want to be associated with him. I'll return everyone who doesn't belong to me safe and sound.and maybe a little happier.who knows.  
  
Dedication: To my wonderful fiancée whom I love very deeply and who I have neglected to mention in the previous two chapters. And to my wonderful reviewers who keep me writing and thinking of where to go even when in class...hmmmm..I'm not sure if that's a good thing or not.oh well.  
  
Rogue lay on her bed, pressing the room's cordless phone to her ear, and thankful beyond measure that none of the other students who shared the room with her were anywhere to be seen so she wouldn't have to answer any questions about the out of character grin that was firmly plastered on her face. He was alive! Xander had somehow managed to survive whatever the hell had happened to Sunnydale. Not only that but he actually remembered her. It was the first time in a long while that she'd been genuinely happy. Reaching out with her free hand, she pulled her pillow down the bed and propped it under her chest. " Actually, Ah go by Rogue now" Her smile widened and she wondered if he'd figure out how she'd chosen the name. " There are only a couple of people who know me as Marie anymore."  
  
There was a pause on the other end of the line, " Rogue, eh? I like it" Xander's voice came from the other end. " It'd probably be a little conceited to think I had anything to do with you choosing the new name, huh? Ah, never mind. So, you've stopped running that's great! Did you go back home or finally make it all the way to Alaska? And if so, what's it like to deal with the whole six months of darkness thing?" The excitement in his voice was evident as his words seemed to run together. It was also contagious, causing Rogue to giggle.  
  
" Easy sugah," she finally managed to get out around the giggles, " One question at a time alright? And, at the risk of inflating your ego more than Ah remember it being, yes, you may have had a little to do with the name change. For your next question, no Ah didn't go back to Meridian, but Ah did find a home of sorts." Her brow furrowed slightly as she tried to figure out a way to describe the institute without giving too much away. Despite trusting Xander as much as she did anyone, the recent events with Stryker had her a little paranoid about discussing things that went on at the institute too openly. Who knew if he'd arranged a phone tap somewhere other than at the Alkali Lake base. " A few months after Ah met you, Ah ended up with a group of people like me in New York. Not exactly a family per se, but we look out for each other. So, Ah never made it to Alaska like Ah planned. What about you, did you complete your drive to all fifty states?" She smiled.  
" Ya know, there's a funny thing about this great country of ours," Xander said, " Hawaii. it isn't really connected to the rest of the states, and sadly I can't afford one of those new cars that transforms into a speed boat. Not that they were even available for sale when we met. So sadly, no, I didn't complete my planned tour of the country. And, before you feel the slightest bit guilty about the money, that wasn't why I didn't do it." There was a short pause, as if he was considering something. " The truth is that the car my Uncle "loaned" me, was a little less than reliable for long trips and it broke down a few times along the way, so I'd get her towed to the closest town, pick up an odd job or two until I could afford the repairs and then head on. I finally got sick of the whole thing and decided to head back to Sunnydale. You know how my luck runs, right? Well, you have to swear that you will never repeat to anyone what I'm about to tell you."  
  
Rogue's grin widened and she involuntarily pressed the phone closer to her ear in eager anticipation. " Who on earth would Ah tell anything to Xander? It's not like Ah have pictures of you Ah could show people and say, this is who Ah'm talking about. And Ah don't know any of your friend's phone numbers do Ah?"  
  
" Yet you somehow managed to find my phone number, which is officially a business number that is not in Sunnydale. A business, I might add that when we met, I wasn't aware existed, let alone had any clue that I'd end up working for. So I wouldn't put it past you to be able to find my friends and tell them my incredibly embarrassing story. By the way how did you find me?" Xander countered.  
  
* Damn * Rogue thought, * He's still as sharp as when we met. * "  
Ok, ok. Ah swear that I won't tell a single soul about this incredibly embarrassing incident in your life." She said sweetly, holding up her free hand mocking the boy scouts salute even though he couldn't know that she was.  
  
Xander seemed to consider it, finally sighing heavily, " Ok, but don't think I didn't notice you avoid the question of how you found me Marie. Well after you left, I stayed in Tennessee for a little bit, then decided to head on home to Sunnydale. Instead of just driving back the way I came, I took a detour through Northern California and broke down for the final time in this little town about twenty-five miles outside of Sunnydale called Oxnard. The only job I could get there was at the fabulous Ladies Nite Club, primarily in a dish washing capacity. Then, unfortunately for me, one of the dancers got accepted into UCLA's theatre program and left the club to pursue legitimate performance. Guess who they pulled to fill his spot?"  
  
Rogue's gloved hand flew to her mouth to try to stifle the laughter, her slender body convulsing on the bed with the effort. " You're kidding?! They actually had you strip? Just pulled you out of the kitchen to get all naked on stage for a bunch of horny middle aged women? How awful!" Rogue exclaimed once she could hide the amusement from her voice. A sudden image of the Xander she had met a couple of years ago flew into her mind and began to do a slow seductive strip tease. * Cut it out girl * she chastised herself * You have Bobby, you love him! You don't need images of other men getting naked in your brain *  
  
" Thanks for saying the thought of me stripping is awful," Xander teased, unwittingly following her train of thought, " And not all of the women who frequented the club were middle aged. Some of them were much older. The point was that they were very appreciative of my performance and considering that their contributions allowed me to buy an only slightly used newer model car, who am I to complain on how they spend their grandchildren's inheritances? Now, you avoided telling me how you found this number before, how about explaining that little trick?"  
  
Rogue swore under her breath and glanced towards the open bedroom door. " Alright, just give me a minute and you'll have to swear not to breath a word of this to anyone. You can't even think too loudly about it." She pushed herself up off the bed and walked to the door, closing it securely before returning to the bed. " You know how I said that I ended up with a group of people like me? Let's just say that I didn't mean that they were all runaway teenage girls. And the guy who set this place up has a knack for finding people, no matter where they are." Nervously glancing back at the door Rogue hoped that her explanation was appropriately vague"  
  
" I see." Came Xander's cautious reply, " And I can understand why you don't want to publicize that information too widely, especially with whatever this "mutant attack" the news is constantly talking about was."  
  
That caught Rogue's attention, causing her to sit up straight on the bed, pulling her pillow into her lap and wrapping her free arm around it. " Whatever, the .attack, was?" She asked, carefully omitting the word mutant, " You mean you weren't affected by it? As far as we knew it hit just about everyone on the planet both human and, ah, non-human. Are you seriously telling me that you don't know what the news keeps referring to?"  
  
" Not a damn clue," Xander said " All I know about it is what was on the news and from what little people here in L.A. have been willing to say about it. Giles, you've probably got memories of him floating around in your head if you remember anything from me, has a theory that the effects of the Hellmouth actually shielded us from what was going on around the rest of the world. It was probably the only time that living on the mouth of hell was a blessing considering that once again we had to save the world."  
  
" Again?!," Rogue asked, shocked, " One of these days you're going to have to tell me just how many times the world has almost ended. But to make a long story short, there was this covert military group that decided to raid our house here and took some of us prisoner. They wanted to find a "cure" for the "mutant problem" and decided to use the guy who set everything up here to do it. You see, he was taken prisoner as well and forced against his will to use his abilities and a machine he created to attempt to kill everyone with a mutant gene on the planet. Problem is, during the rescue operation, a man called Magneto decided to reverse the machine to target humans. Hence the whole "mutant" attack the news keeps talking about."  
  
There was a pause on the other end of the line as Xander absorbed what she had said, reading between the lines to catch what she wasn't saying, finally he answered, " Thanks for filling in the blanks. I have the feeling that you probably aren't supposed to say much, if anything, to anyone about it but I do appreciate the inside scoop. Considering the fact that everyone's still living, I'm going to assume that everything came out alright."  
  
" More or less" Rogue said carefully, doing her best not to think of Jean and what had happened.  
  
Xander could tell there was more she wasn't saying but decided not to press the issue, " Well, since you gave me the inside scoop on your brush with the apocalypse I think it's only fair that I let you know about mine. I know this is going to sound a little far fetched, but I can assure you it's the truth. There was, maybe still is, an entity known as The First. Essentially the first evil every to set its foot on the earth. It wanted to take over and ultimately destroy our world and to do that it needed to get the Slayer out of its way. So its agents started killing off all the women who ever could be Slayers and headed down the line til it got to the two current Slayers, Buffy and Faith. Of course, we couldn't let that happen. So Giles started sending what potential Slayers he could find our way, and we trained them into lean mean fighting machines, with only a few bumps along the way. World's still here, so, needless to say we royally kicked it's evil ass and in doing so, kinda caused Sunnydale to be sucked off the face of the Earth.just your average every day thing for us" He quipped easily.  
  
It was Rogue's turn to be shocked. " Ok.I can beat that" she teased, " ..so I lied. I can't top that. My god, you can brush that off as an every day thing? What counts as out of the ordinary for you guys? And what did you mean by bumps, if you don't mind me asking that is."  
  
There was a sharp intake of breath on the other end of the line as Xander considered what to say, finally he sighed heavily. There was only one way to start moving on his life and that was to put the past to rest. " Well, as with just about any war there were casualties. We couldn't keep all of the girls alive against the Uber-vampires the First sent after us. And during the final battle, my ex-fiancee, Anya was one of the ones to fall." His breathe caught in his throat but he pushed on, self consciously raising a hand to his eye patch, " and I, well just call me Cyclops cause now I only have one eye left."  
  
Rogue brought a hand to her mouth in shock, " Oh my god. I'm so sorry Xander." A sudden giggle escaped her lips, " Sorry.it's just what you said.there's a guy here I think you'd have a lot in common with. Why don't you come out for a visit some time?" she asked without thinking. A moment later she realized what she'd said and decided that it didn't sound like as horrible an idea as it could be, as long as the Professor was cool with it. After all, the other students could probably do with seeing that not all humans hated mutants. " You know what, if you could come out sometime I'd love to see you. Hang on for a second." She set the phone down on the bed and flew out of the bedroom to find the Professor and talk it over with him.  
  
Five minutes later she returned, picking up the phone and bouncing with excitement. " Listen Xander, I just got back from talking with the guy who set this place up, Professor Charles Xavier, and he doesn't see any problem with you coming to visit. I explained that you're definitely cool with mutants and how you saved me. He's also interested in talking to you about the hellmouth and the possibility that it actually shielded you from the effects of the..ah.incident. What do you say? We can come get you if money for travel is an issue."  
  
" Well, I do have some vacation time accrued that I can use. And considering that all I do here is answer phones and take messages it shouldn't be too hard for me to find someone to fill in. I could probably be free by Monday. If that's ok with you." Xander said, a little shocked by the proposition. However, the chance to see Marie again, and maybe meet some more mutants was a very tempting offer indeed. Besides, it beat sitting around the hotel waiting for business calls or trying to fend off hungry Slayers intent on getting at his twinkie supply.  
  
"Great," Rogue said happily, " I'll call you later with more details about where to meet and at what time on Monday. But I should really hop off the phone before the long distance rate goes through the roof. I'll see you soon. Bye!" She quickly hung up the phone before waiting for his answer, a huge smile on her face. In a few days she'd see him again, something told her the next few days would be the longest of her life. * Oh come on * She thought at herself * It's just Xander. He's just a friend, a nice guy who saved my life. It's not like I want him or anything, after all, he's no Bobby." Determined to believe herself, Rogue headed out of the bedroom intent on patching things up with her boyfriend.  
  
Author's note: Yea, I know there wasn't much action in this one, but how exciting can most phone calls be? Trust me, there will be some more action later. 


	4. Still Rivers Run Deep

The More Things Change  
  
Author: RoguesKnight  
  
Chapter 4: Still Rivers run deep  
  
Disclaimer: Not mine. Despite the fact that they've been trying to hide under my bed, I can't claim to own any of the characters except Rivers ( yes, we'll be seeing more of him). Everyone else belongs to Marvel, Fox, Mutant Enemy, and Joss Whedon.  
  
Author's note: The views expressed by Rivers and the Friends of Humanity do not reflect those of the author. I am definitely pro-Mutant.  
  
Dedication: To my beautiful fiancée, I love you! To my awesome readers and reviewers Thank You soo very much!!  
  
The shiny black luxury car pulled to a sharp stop in front of the L.A. Headquarters of The Friends of Humanity, the tires screaming in protest and leaving a short trail of rubber in their wake. The driver's door slammed open, shaking the frame with the force and out stepped a very pissed off John Rivers. Around the edges of his dark sunglasses, a deep bruise could be detected forming around his right eye. Ignoring the pain, he sent a glare in the general direction of passerby on the street, almost daring them to stop and stare. Perfunctorily, he straightened his tie and suit jacket before shutting the door with almost as much force as he'd opened it. The car rocked on its frame. * Fools * he groused, heading angrily towards the door * Comparing us to the Nazi regime. Hitler was a genocidal maniac. All we want to do is ensure man's continued dominance over the planet and protect the species from inferior life forms. Our cause is pure! * Careful to avoid any obvious displays of his frustration, he opened the door and stalked slowly through the corridors of the building towards the elevator that would lead to his basement command center. Although he kept his facial expression completely neutral, underlings scurried out of his path in fear. He'd have preferred respect, but as long as they obeyed his orders without question, fear would be just fine. Arriving at the elevator he placed his right hand on the palm scanner, unlocking the doors and causing them to open with an almost silent hiss. * At least I don't have to put up with any god awful elevator music * he thought as he stepped inside and slapped the control that would take him to his destination. A sudden, twisted, thought occurred to him * Wonder how long it'd take before a piece of mutie scum would snap if we strapped it down and forced it to listen to that crap non-stop. I should make a note to research and development that that will be the next experiment to be performed on the subjects. Those who've survived the latest round of testing that is.* A feral grin spread across his strong features.  
  
As the elevator came to a stop the grin vanished almost immediately. It wouldn't do any good to let the men think that he was some sort of slave to his passions like those mutant freaks were. Exiting, he noted with some pleasure that everyone seemed to be on task. Soldiers of all races milled around the large underground room, filing reports, checking weapons, some even worked the phones trying to procure more donations from concerned citizens who couldn't stomach the thought of their children going to school with mutants. * Ah, concern over children. Whoever first thought of exploiting mindless masses who actually care about their mewling brats must have been a genius * he thought. A sudden, high pitched, inhuman scream drew his, and nearly everyone else's attention to the series of doors at the far end of the room. The occupants of each were undergoing a battery of physical, psychological, and emotional tests in order to find a cure for the "mutant problem". If the research could prove that mutation was a disease, especially a communicable one, and then provide a cure, Friends of Humanity would no longer be depicted as a borderline political group but as the saviors of the species. Of course, research was also being conducted into how to better control the mutant subjects that had been captured and harness their bizarre abilities to further the Friends of Humanity's ends by other means. As suddenly as the scream had begun, it was over. Whether the mutant had died or simply passed out from exhaustion made little difference, there were always more where it had come from, which was precisely the problem.  
  
Rivers turned his attention back to surveying his men, a sort of fatherly pride filling his chest. Men who normally wouldn't have dreamed of speaking to each other now worked, ate, and slept soundly side by side, united in their passion to preserve the purity of the species. It was amazing what the presence of a common enemy could do. There was however, no more time to simply bask in the glory of what he'd accomplished so far, the day was still young and there was business to be done. Even if those visionless imbeciles at Angel Investigations wouldn't help to ferret out the mutant menace in the city, there were always others. Others whose morals weren't so high, and for whom the only thing that mattered was how much someone was willing to pay to have the job done. Such people weren't difficult to find either if one knew where to look. Rivers approached his office, trying to decide whether to contact people to hunt out the freaks hiding spots himself or to give it to one of his underlings as a special assignment. * I'll let someone else do it * he decided, as he entered his air conditioned, sound-proof office * After all, those who have the stomach to contact people ruthless enough to do the job, and more importantly smart enough to survive such contact themselves should be given the opportunity for advancement. * Rounding the edge of his mahogany desk, he pushed back the plain, straight-backed, wooden chair and sat down in front of his computer to find the perfect agent for the job. Like the man who occupied it, the office was hard and harsh, almost sterile. The only other chair in the room was a duplicate of the one behind the desk, no photos or awards decorated the space. The sole exception was a Friends of Humanity poster, hung at eye level if one were seated, just to the right of the entrance for motivation. It depicted a series of dead freaks, with a pure human family standing above them and simply read : The final solution is not evolution.  
  
Rivers poured over the personnel records methodically as he looked for the perfect agent to give the task of making sure someone was hired to find each and every freak in the city. * This is going to be harder than I thought * Rivers frowned, not in disappointment but because of the surprising difficulty of the task before him. It had been ages since he had personally handled recruitment or looked over the personnel records and while it was heartening to see that so many who worked for him were more than qualified for the task, it irked him that he had grown so lax in his own duties as not to keep up on who was being recruited and what their specialties were. * Lazy, John. * he berated himself * You can't afford to get comfortable. You know what could happen if you let your guard down too far. * A sharp rapping at the door broke him out of his thoughts. " Enter." He commanded. The door opened, and a deeply tanned older man walked into the room, standing beside the empty chair until further acknowledged. He work a white lab coat over dark dress slacks, with a white shirt and black tie. His once dark hair had begun to grey, and there were red flecks of something in it, flecks that matched the red stains that covered the front of the lab coat. A security badge clipped to the coat's front pocket identified the man as the head of mutant research, Travis McManis. " No need to stand on ceremony Travis," Rivers said with an almost friendly smile, " You've been involved in this fight longer than I have. It's me who should be standing for you and we both know it. Now, take a seat and tell me what you've got."  
  
Travis pulled the room's only other chair to the front of the desk and sat, resting his hands on his lap. " John, you know damn well that's not true. Polite, but not true. You somehow seem to understand how those freaks think better than anyone I've ever met which is why you've advanced so quickly." He reached under his lab coat and pulled out a thick manila folder " Which brings me to today's business." He continued, sliding it across the desk for Rivers' inspection, " The results of the latest round of testing on our subjects. Regrettably subjects two and eleven did not survive the latest battery of physical examination. Post mortem analysis of subject two has discovered the cause of death to be complete cellular disintegration in the vital organs. All that's left is a slimy, yellow, husk of a body. It is interesting to note however that the skin continues to lubricate itself despite lack of internal organs or control from the central nervous system. We're not sure how long it will continue, but we now theorize that the mutation's source is somewhere in the actual skin cells and cultures have been taken from the subject post mortem to compare to the original samples to see if there is any change in their make-up."  
  
Rivers nodded, " Of course the slimy bastard would continue to make a mess even after death. As soon as you've conducted your analysis, I want the body destroyed. Unless you've discovered any useful properties to the slime it produced?" McManis shook his head negatively. " A shame, every time we have to fire up the furnace to get rid of one of these monstrosities our gas bill goes through the roof," Rivers quipped, " Is there any indication of what the cause of the cellular disintegration was? And what was the cause of death for subject eleven?"  
  
McManis straightened his tie self-consciously. " Subject two was part of the group on whom we've been testing possible cures for mutation. Subjects one through four were also in this group and all survived the latest test. Unfortunately, they're no closer to being human than subject two is at this point. We speculate that something in the injected serum reacted badly with the subject's abnormal physiology causing the internal organs and brain to disintegrate. As the remaining three subjects in this group have shown no ill effects we feel it is safe to conclude that subject two was an anomaly. Subject eleven was being subjected to ultrasonic frequencies when it died. An autopsy is being performed as we speak, so the definite cause of it's death is not known at the present time. However, speculation based on the creature's known attributes and abilities suggests that it's bat-like attributes went beyond those grotesque wings sprouting from its back and the frequencies it was exposed to was too much for its brain to handle. However, we do have some positive news as well."  
  
"Oh? And what might that be?" Rivers asked, flipping idly through the report and raising an eyebrow. He'd read through for the fine details later.  
  
" We've finally discovered the nature of subject five's ability to reduce its body to a gel like substance and can counter act it, which means it can finally be included in further testing", off Rivers' interested look Travis continued, " Through some mechanism, at the present time unknown, subject five is able to dissolve the phospholipid bi-layer that surrounds each and every cell in its body. The result is that it becomes something akin to a one celled organism, similar to an amoeba, only possessing multiple nucleuses and the ability to re-solidify. However, we can hold it in a solid state by continuously running a mild electric current through its body."  
  
" Excellent," Rivers said, extending a hand which McManis took, " As usual Travis, your department has made wonderful advances in understanding the mutant phenomena. You and your staff should be proud, and I'll be sure to pass this information on to the national level."  
  
McManis nodded, releasing Rivers' hand, no traces of any emotion on his face and stood to leave. As he reached the door, he paused. " Permission to speak freely sir?" Rivers nodded silently. " John, I couldn't help but notice your eye. You haven't been out trying to hunt down subjects without a back up team have you?"  
  
Rivers smiled grimly, " No, I was attempting to contact others who would locate mutant scum for us so our organization's image wouldn't be tarnished any more than it already has been by the liberal mutant loving media. Unfortunately, the individuals I spoke to seem to hold deep sympathies for the mutant scum. One of them caught me off guard and got a decent punch in, punk."  
  
" Do you intend to have one of our "education squads" talk to him and see if they can change his mind on the mutant problem?" McManis asked with a wry smile.  
  
" No" Rivers said, " We don't have the time or man power to waste on some mutie lover. He'll get his in due time, but I do want an agent assigned to tail him. Perhaps he'll lead us to mutant scum anyway." McManis nodded and once again reached for the door. " One more thing Travis," Rivers called, stopping the other man in his tracks, " Has any progress been made in that other special assignment I gave you?"  
  
" Unfortunately not John. We haven't heard of any mutant from our informants that matches the description you provided of the one that massacred your squad , nor have we found one ourselves whose DNA matches the scales that were left on the victims' clothing. It'll only be a matter of time though I'm sure. It can't hide from us forever. Don't worry John, we'll have our revenge." With that, McManis left the room, presumably headed back to the labs to continue his work.  
  
Rivers set the report down on the desk with a sigh and pushed back from his desk. Pacing his windowless office, his mind was taken back to that fateful day when his world changed. It was supposed to have been a simple mission, take out a mutant stronghold rumored to have more than twenty mutants in residence. Superficially the building appeared to be a deserted warehouse near the docks but surveillance had recorded mutants of all ages and descriptions going in and out at regular intervals. His team had been sent to collect as many subjects as they could and to kill only if absolutely necessary. All was ready when he'd been dropped to the ground by a searing pain in his head. It had felt like a vice had been clamped onto his brain and gradually tightened and he'd had the distinct feeling that he was going to die. He heard shouts of "mutant" from his teammates and the order from the squad leader to "kill the freak" when suddenly the pressure stopped in his mind and his team fell to the ground in agony clutching their heads just as he had. It was only when he reached out to try and help the squad leader that he realized something was wrong. His hand looked distorted somehow. The fingers had lengthened and turned a vile dark green, coated in scales and ending in sharp black talons. A quick glance at the surrounding area confirmed that he was indeed the freak the squad leader had ordered killed and none of the scum had exited the warehouse. He had briefly considered trying to explain, to reason with the others that he had been somehow infected by the mutants and needed medical attention but even through the agony on his teammates' faces he could recognize disgust, hatred and rage. There'd be no time for explanation, no pity or medical attention, once they recovered enough to aim their weapons, he'd be dead. Just another dead freak.  
  
It was all the incentive he'd needed to act. With a strength borne of mutated genes that had finally awakened from dormancy and a sense of desperation, he had used his talons to tear out the throats of his teammates before they recovered. The stress of the transformation had taken a heavy toll on him however, and he had passed out among the dead bodies of the men he had called friends. The next thing he remembered was being retrieved by a back up squad, dispatched as was standard operating procedure, when his squad had not reported back in. Aside from being covered completely in the drying blood of his comrades, he'd looked completely human again. He'd cooked up a story about the assault, adding that the mutant hadn't carefully checked the dead as the reason for his survival when the others had died, and he'd been hailed as a heroic example of the species. Careful, private, experimentation in the confines of his office had revealed that the mutation could be controlled, allowing him to pass as human instead of the reptilian freak that hid in his genetic code.  
  
The feeling of his hands beginning to shift as he paced the office broke him out of his reverie and he focused, forcing them back into their proper human form. Refocused on the important things he had to do, Rivers reseated himself behind the desk to finish his computer search through the personnel files. 


	5. We're not in Kansas anymore

The More Things Change  
  
Author: RoguesKnight  
  
Chapter 5: We're not in Kansas anymore  
  
Disclaimer: Don't own them. Barely own my sanity at this point. The characters contained within belong to Fox, Marvel, Joss Whedon, and Mutant Enemy.  
  
Dedication: To my darling fiancée who's been keeping me as sane as possible. I love you! To my readers/reviewers thank you for your support so far and all your kind words. Thanks also for your patience as things got hectic recently with school and work and I had little to no time to write.  
  
We now return to our regularly scheduled fic...  
  
The brilliant California noonday sun shone down on the Mojave Desert, baking everything in sight, including the three occupants of the older model black convertible sitting in the middle of nowhere. The call from Rogue had come late Saturday night with a meeting time and location, picked to ensure the least likelihood of anyone noticing something slightly out of the ordinary going on. Of course the instructions had also been for Xander to head out alone but there'd been no way in hell that anyone at Angel Investigations would let him agree to those kinds of terms. Besides, Deadboy hadn't been too keen on the idea of letting Xander borrow his car and just leave it in the desert for who knew how long. And so, Xander found himself seated in the passenger seat next to an increasingly irate Faith and in front of a nervous Dawn. * Could be worse * he reasoned with a quiet sigh * I could have ended up with Faith and Kennedy. At least Dawnie's probably not going to throw any punches at Faith just to pass the time. * For some unknown reason, the red-headed Slayer and Faith were almost constantly butting heads over the smallest decisions of late. Normally the thought of two beautiful women fighting each other wouldn't have bothered him too much and the potential catfight would have provided a welcome distraction from the heat of the desert, but it usually lead to an upset Willow to see Kennedy and ...well anyone not getting along, and no matter how old he got, he'd always have a weak spot for his Willow. Which is why he'd convinced, or rather bribed, Kennedy to stay back at the Hyperion and handle the phones. * I hope Willow appreciates this * he thought * Giving up fifty dollars worth of twinkies is not something to be undertaken lightly *. The sudden blaring of the car horn broke him from his thoughts.  
  
" God damn it" Faith screamed into the desert before turning to face Xander, " I'm giving your friends or whatever five minutes to show up and then I'm dumping your sorry ass out in the middle of this wasteland and heading back to the hotel and bed." Of all the things that could be said about Faith, "morning person" was definitely not one of them. Xander fought the urge to grin. He knew it was petty, but Faith had recently taken to barging into his bedroom at random times, most consistently while he was in the shower, to complain to him about the new Slayers' lack of skill or to look for his twinkie stockpile. Specifically asking her to drive him out to a meeting place in the middle of her nap time was the perfect way for him to get revenge. Maybe she'd have a better idea of what courtesy meant when he got back from New York, whenever that was Faith continued ranting about the earliness of the hour under her breath, her eyes fixed on the clock in the dashboard.  
  
" Don't worry Xander" Dawn said with false cheerfulness from the back seat as she sat up behind him, " I wouldn't let her leave you out here all alone." She'd taken off the dark t-shirt she'd been wearing earlier to reveal a neon pink bikini top and the thin band of pink peeking up from beneath the waist of her short jean shorts suggested it was part of a matched set. Her usually dark hair had begun to bleach lighter from all the time she'd spent with Cordelia worshipping the sun on the roof of the Hyperion, and was tied back to allow as much skin as possible to be hit by the sun. Faith turned her head, giving the younger woman a skeptical look without a word and turned back to face the clock. Xander turned as well to face the back, an amused smile playing across his lips at the thought of Dawn forcibly trying to stop Faith from doing something she'd set her mind to.  
  
" Does Buffy know that you're borrowing her bikini again Dawn?" Xander smirked. In the days after the destruction of Sunnydale, it'd been rough on everyone, not quite knowing where their places in the world were anymore. However things had quickly become as close to normal as they ever were and the early morning hours had been filled, on more days than not, with the sounds of sisterly squabbling as Dawn tried to sneak off to school in yet another one of Buffy's outfits. " Or for that matter that you're ditching school to sit in the middle of the desert and sunbathe? You know that she's going to kill you for this right? Followed by me when I get home. I don't know how it happens, but whenever you get into some sort of mischief, I'm usually punished right along with you."  
  
" Don't sweat it Xand," Faith spoke up, " Little sis here has all her bases covered. I'm just gonna have to hit the sheets extra hard with Principal Woods to make sure this little field trip doesn't ever reach B's attention." A slow sensual grin spread across her face. It'd been pure luck that Woods had been able to find a high school in L.A. desperately in need of a new Principal, it'd been even more of a coincidence that it happened to be Dawn's new school. " Of course, I'm not doing this out of the goodness of my heart or nothing. I ain't going that soft. Dawnie here's offering up a nice chunk of change in exchange for my help in keeping this trip secret. Why the hell she thinks you're worth it is beyond me, but hey, money's money."  
  
Xander looked at Dawn expectantly. " Hey" the sixteen year old said defensively, " It's not like Buffy never skipped school for some pointless reason, you know, like saving the world or something. I just wanted to get a break from it all, if even for a few hours. You cannot believe just how annoyingly shallow some high school girls can be." Xander smiled, his mind drifting back to his own high school days. " And besides," Dawn continued, " it's not fair for me to have to be in school when all the new Slayers don't have to get enrolled or anything, even though a lot of them are still school aged themselves. Furthermore, if I was in school right now then by the time I got back to the hotel, you would already be off in New York. I just wanted to be able to say goodbye in a more personal way than just a quick 'have a good trip' kind of way, you know?". Xander and Faith shared a grin before turning to a brightly blushing Dawn. " That is soo not what I meant to say" she corrected hastily, waving her hands in front of her for emphasis.  
  
" Oh, come on Dawn," Faith teased, her mood sliding easily from dark to teasing, " I know just how you want to say goodbye to Xander." Her dark eyes sparkled with mischief as her gaze slid from the embarrassed teenager to the nearly equally uncomfortable man in the front seat, " Judging by experience though it isn't that much different than a quick 'have a good trip'." She laughed easily and turned to face out into the nothingness of the desert, a grin pulling at her lips and the dashboard clock which had seemed so important mere moments ago completely forgotten. * That'll teach him to pull my sexy ass out of bed to play chauffer * Faith thought.  
  
The trio sat in an uncomfortable silence save for the sound of the radio as Faith turned on the car's engine to try and find some decent music to kill the time, well uncomfortable for at least Dawn and Xander, as Faith finally found the only radio station she could and was lustily singing along to some country song that even Xander wasn't familiar with. Needless to say pure silence would have been preferable at that point. A soft hand landed on Xander's shoulder and he turned, only to find himself looking into Dawn's light hazel eyes. " Xander," she said softly, a faint blush coloring her cheeks, " you know that I'm over that whole crush on you thing, right?" Even though he didn't quite believe that, he nodded, " It's just that you're pretty much the only other normal person I get to spend any quality time with and now you're heading off to New York for god only knows how long without telling anyone how they can reach you, or even where you're going to be. I mean, what if you decide you like it out there doing whatever it is you're doing than you like being out here with me....err, I meant that as my friend" she hastily added, her cheeks turning a deeper red.  
  
Xander covered her hand with his gently and smiled, " Dawnie, I'm just going to visit an old friend of mine at her new place. I'll probably be out there a week at most before she gets tired of my antics or I break something and she sends me home to you guys. I'll try and give you guys a call when I get there if I can and let you know that I arrived safely. I promise." He gave her hand a soft squeeze, earning a shy smile from the teen.  
  
Any further conversation was interrupted by a large dark shape passing in front of the sun and the rumble of jet engines. The car's three occupants watched in awe as the sleek black aircraft hovered for a few moments before lowering landing gear and touching down in the desert a few yards away. * Either that's my ride * Xander thought eyeing the dark jet in amazement * Or we've driven out onto some sort of government testing grounds and we're about to be arrested and locked away in some sort of top secret facility * The boarding ramp to the jet lowered and a muscular figure that was definitely not Marie came cautiously down the steps. As he stepped into the bright glare of the sun, the three seated in the car got their first good look at him. He had dark, wild, hair and a broad chest; the dark leather jacket over the grey tank top completed the ' I'm a badass, don't mess with me' look the guy was obviously going for. As he walked towards the parked car, the three tensed, something about the way he walked gave the impression that badass wasn't just a look for whoever he was, it touched every part of his being. " You Harris?", the man half grunted, half growled at Xander when he finally reached the passenger's side door. Xander nodded mutely, wondering just what he was getting into. " I thought you were told to come alone," the gruff figure continued with a disapproving glance at Faith and Dawn, " This ain't some sort of family picnic. So grab your shit, tell your girl and your sister here that you'll see them later and that they never saw any of this, and come on." With that he turned and began heading back towards the jet. Faith unfortunately, just couldn't let it end at that.  
  
" Just wait one damn minute," she demanded, hopping out of the car and quickly running in front of the gruff individual, stopping in her tracks and crossing her arms over her chest defiantely, " I am not his girl. And just who the hell do you think you are? I'm not about to let my friend head off to god only knows where just because you told him to. Now, you're going to tell me just what the hell is going on, and who the hell you are or the only place Xander's going is back to L.A. with us." The man regarded Faith for a moment, his dark eyes meeting hers before turning his head back to face the remaining occupants of the car.  
  
" Listen kid," he called, something close to amusement clear in his voice, " would ya mind getting your sweetie out of my way and come on already? Our little trip out here to pick you up wasn't exactly cleared with the FAA if you know what I mean. I'd like to be on our way before we have to do any explaining as to what an unregistered aircraft is doing out in the middle of the desert to the local Barney Fifes if you don't mind." The 'sweetie' comment was perhaps the worst mistake he could have made As he turned his head back towards Faith, it was met by her fist. The force of the blow was enough to lift him off of his feet and send him sliding across the sand until he came to a rest beside the car.  
  
Faith slipped into a low stance, ready incase her victim decided that he wanted any more, and shook her fist out gingerly, " Damn buddy. What the hell do you have for a skull, steel? I mean I've known some hard headed men in my time, but you take the cake." As the figure came to his feet beside the car, Faith got her answer. Not in words, but rather a low growl and a sharp metallic sound as six long blades popped out of his hands. " Holy shit" Faith muttered, wondering for the first time if she'd managed to get in over her head as the clawed figure slowly advanced on her, forcing her back towards the jet. " Hey Xander, Dawn, would it be too much trouble for you to get off your asses and give me a hand?" She called out as close to panicked as she ever got. It was enough to startle the two Scoobies into action and they scrambled out of the car, careful to maintain a safe distance from the clawed guy until an opening presented itself. Fortunately they didn't need one.  
  
" Logan behave!" a gently accented southern voice yelled from the top step of the jet's boarding ramp. As one, the four individuals on the ground turned to face the voice's owner. A slender young woman was descending the ramp; she wore tight black jeans and a short sleeved dark purple shirt with long white gloves extending from her fingers to just below her elbows, leaving the barest hint of skin exposed. As she neared the group, her delicate features became more noticeable, she had full pouty lips, and warm brown eyes that sparkled with an inner life, but perhaps most startling was the prominent patch of white hair that fell across her face in sharp contrast to the natural brown of the rest of her hair. " Ah mean it. Y'all wouldn't let me fly the Blackbird out here to pick Xander up on my own even though Ah've been training on the simulator for a while now, so Ah can't believe you'd expect him to meet us by himself. Now, behave yourself." The man she'd identified as Logan, growled dangerously, giving the younger people around him a glare before sheathing the claws under his skin again with a quick movement and barging past back into the jet. " Don't mind him," the young woman said with the barest glance backwards, " He's not exactly the trusting type. Xander already knows me, but you two Ah haven't had the pleasure of meeting yet. Ah'm Rogue." She extended her hand first to Dawn, who'd been gaping at the girl since she'd gotten off the plane.  
  
" Dawn" she replied, forcing herself not to measure her appearance against Rogue's. * This is Xander's friend? * she thought forlornly. * How could I ever compete with her?*. She gave herself a mental slap, remembering that Xander didn't think of her as anything more than a sister, and forced a cheerful smile, " Pleased to meet you Rogue." Rogue smiled in return before offering her left hand to Faith.  
  
" Faith," the dark haired Slayer said, taking Rogue's hand, " So, what's up with short, sexy, and metallic. Is he honestly afraid of a tiny thing like you, or did he just not want me to kick his ass?" Faith was many things, but unconfident in her fighting prowess was definitely not one of them  
  
Rogue laughed, " Ah wish Ah could control Logan. He probably just wanted to get the hell out of here. And the sooner Ah've collected Xander here, the sooner he gets his wish." She raised her eyebrow slightly at the Slayer " And sugah, sexy? Ah'm not exactly sure you're his type. He's ...well...no one really knows how old he is, but let's just say old enough to be your father at least." Xander's soft chuckling caught her attention and she walked to him with a smile. " And you mister, what do you seem to think is so funny?" She enveloped him in a hug, whispering " Good to see you again Xander."  
  
" Your manners are about as good as I remember Ma...Rouge" he corrected, pulling back to smile at her, " No hello? Just questions right off the bat....ah...the young. It's good to see you too. As for what I think is so funny...let's just say Faith has interesting taste in men. I can attest to that personally" he added with a grin in Faith's direction before ducking behind Rogue.  
  
" Cut it out" Rogue laughed, slapping at him and stepping away. Turning to Faith and Dawn she smiled, " It was nice to meet the both of you. I'm glad Xander decided to go back to Sunnydale after we met each other a couple years ago, there's an old saying that you can judge a person's character by the company they keep. The fact that he has friends like the two of you says a lot about you." Dawn blushed at the unexpected compliment and even Faith showed a small smile. " Unfortunately, Logan was right and we are on a strict time table if we want to avoid raising any eyebrows from the locales." Faith nodded in understanding and headed back to the car, opening the trunk and retrieving the two small bags Xander brought with him. Rogue gave Xander a slight push towards Dawn and smiled, " Come on up after you've said your good-byes, I'll make sure we don't try and leave without you."  
  
Xander walked over to the obviously upset young woman and enveloped her in a tight hug, " Shh Dawnie, there's no need to be so upset. I'm just going for a little while. I mean how long can anyone put up with me? I'll be back before you know it. If I'm not careful, probably right back out here in the middle of the desert." He smiled, releasing her slowly and ignoring the small wet spots on his shirts where her tears had fallen silently. " Don't let Kennedy tear apart my desk chari, eh? I've gotten pretty used to it." He joked before leaning over to give her a kiss on the cheek. Dawn, however, had other plans. She turned her head slightly and brought her lips to meet his for a brief kiss before running off to the car without a single word, leaving Xander standing wordlessly.  
  
" She'll be fine Xan," Faith said setting his bags beside him. " I'll stop at a Dairy Queen or something on the way back to L.A. and treat her to whatever she wants." If possible, Xander seemed even more shocked by that statement, it must have shown because she quickly added, " You say one thing about me going soft, and I'm going to throw your scrawny ass onto that jet. Now get out of here." She gave him a quick hug before heading back to the car herself without so much as a look back.  
  
Xander's gaze lingered on the two women for a moment before he picked up his luggage and headed up the boarding ramp of the Blackbird. " You can set your stuff in the back," Logan growled as the ramp came up behind him. Xander nodded silently, slightly dazed by the sheer beauty of the craft. Something inside him just itched to learn all he could, to see how it would handle under his control. Shaking the idea off as a fantasy, he set his luggage down and headed back towards the cockpit. Logan was seated in what Xander presumed was the co-pilot's seat and Rogue was seated behind him. In the pilot's chair was a man with dark brown hair wearing some sort of visor and a black uniform. He turned in his seat, measuring up the younger man and though Xander couldn't see his eyes, he could tell the gaze was far from friendly. Slightly unnerved, Xander silently took the seat across from Rogue.  
  
" Remember that guy I said you'd just have to meet?" Rogue asked, nodding towards the pilot as he fired up the engines. Xander nodded. " That's him. His name's Scott, but everyone on the team calls him Cyclops."  
  
* The team? * Xander wondered briefly. " Damn," he said aloud, " and that's what I wanted to use as a code name." Rogue laughed and Xander thought he even detected the faintest hint of a smile from Logan. " So, Rogue," he continued, " I love what you've done with your hair . What else have you been up to since we parted?" From the look she gave him, Xander got the feeling that it would be a long flight. 


	6. Worlds Collide

The More Things Change  
  
Author: RoguesKnight  
  
Chapter six: Worlds Collide  
  
Disclaimer: The characters contained within this story are not my property. Ok, Rivers is, but I really wish he wasn't. The non-original characters are the property of Marvel, 20th Century Fox, Mutant Enemy, and Joss Whedon respectively. Just borrowing them for a bit, though if Marvel is willing to part with Rogue, I'm willing to make an offer....how's a soul sound? Let me know guys, it's not that used yet.  
  
Dedication: To my lovely fiancée I love you with all my heart. To my reviewers...I'm trying guys really. However, working two jobs and being a full time student takes up a good chunk of my time. Please be patient, and I'll make every effort to update as often as possible until this is finished...I want to find out how it ends just as much as you do. Thank you for all your kind words and support  
  
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As the Blackbird lifted off into the midday sky a bush on a nearby hill rustled, and slowly unfolded into a single figure in desert camouflage, a carefully concealed camera with a long telephoto lens attached. * Promotion here I come * Sarah Jameson thought, her cool grey eyes tracking the quickly fading form of the black jet. She quickly shed the dried branches that had provided her cover and headed back down the hill. It hadn't been easy to keep track of Harris and the two women who'd accompanied him to his little rendezvous. The dark haired driver had to be one of the most paranoid people she had ever seen, driving around downtown L.A. for a solid hour and a half and making five pointless pit stops at convenience stores before putting the peddle to the metal and flying out to the meeting location at break neck speeds. How they'd managed to avoid a ticket was beyond her. * I guess Rivers was right. Harris knows something. I've never seen anything like that jet, but there's bound to be someone who has and is willing to talk about it for the right price * she mused, slinging her camera's strap over her neck and walking towards her carefully concealed motorcycle. * As for Harris himself* Sarah thought, uncovering the sleek black machine and hopping on, gunning the engines, * It's time to see what I can find out about him. If he knows someone with a jet like that, he's bound to have a past himself. * She raised the kickstand into place and flew off back towards the road and L.A.  
  
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *  
* * * * * * * * * * *  
  
Xander leaned back against his seat in a state of shock, a feeling he hadn't known for years. * Guess I just got a little too used to the beasties of the hellmouth. I didn't even think that the world outside of Sunnydale could be just as odd * He became acutely aware of Rogue's increasingly concerned gaze from the seat next to him and offered up a weak smile, "I'm alright Marie, really. It's just a lot to take in all at once" He gestured expansively to the interior of the jet and its unusual occupants, "Even for someone like me." Rogue smiled, her face softening a bit as she nodded her understanding. Xander stole a glance at the men in the pilot and co-pilot's seats before leaning close to Rogue and whispering, "So, you're like a superhero, huh? Please tell me that this includes wearing skin tight costumes and not much else."  
  
Before she could respond the sharp metallic sound of Logan's claws being unsheathed drew Xander's attention back to the co-pilot's seat. " Sorry to destroy your fantasy, bub.", the older man said gruffly, "Marie here doesn't have a costume yet, skin tight or otherwise." His dark eyes hardened as the hint of a growl entered his voice, making Xander squirm uncomfortably in his seat, "And before you even think about coming on to her any more, especially with cornball lines about superheroes, the lady has a boyfriend." With one more hard look at Xander, he re-sheathed his claws and turned his attention to the window. * Great * he thought * Just what we need, another bundle of hormones running around the institute. I sure as hell hope Chuck knows what he's doing, bringing this kid in.* Though he wouldn't admit it Logan had become attached to the young mutants that lived in the mansion. * If this human, Marie's friend or not, causes any sort of trouble he'll get a much closer look at my claws than he'd like. * Logan groused silently.  
  
"Don't worry about him," Rogue said softly, reaching over to place a gloved hand comfortingly on Xander's arm. "He's really a big softie when you get to know him." This earned a growl from the seat directly in front of her, and surprisingly a chuckle from Cyclops who had otherwise been silent during the flight. Rogue smiled, feeling a bit of tension drain from her body. It'd been too long since she'd seen any signs that Scott was beginning to recover from Jean's sacrifice, maybe the chuckle was a sign that he was ready to start getting on with his life. "Unfortunately," She continued with a pointed glare at the occupants of the two front seats, " He's also right. Ah, don't have a uniform yet. Some people think Ah'm too young to handle myself in a fight. Never mind the fact that these two wouldn't be here today if Ah hadn't saved their lives a while back." If her hint about her combat readiness had any effect on the men in front of her they weren't letting it show.  
  
Xander wisely decided to drop the issue about uniforms, "So, you have a boyfriend now? And yet I notice you still wear gloves. If you don't mind me asking, is this a fashion choice or have you...." He trailed off, glancing in Rogue's direction and noticing her downcast expression quickly added, "I mean either way I say keep them. Not everyone can pull off the whole long elegant, gloves look, but you definitely have the arms to do it. Very slender and feminine, which is not to say that I think of you as weak or anything. And I'm babbling, I'm just going to shut up now."  
  
Rogue managed a small smile. Even though Xander had obviously had a lifetime's worth of rough experiences since the last time she'd seen him, he still reminded her of the slightly insecure youth she'd first met. " No," she said softly, reaching over and taking his hand in one of her gloved ones, "It's ok. Really, Ah've gotten over the whole being a mutant thing, mostly. It's one of the great parts about living at the Institute, with others like me. Ah don't feel so much like a freak anymore. But to answer your question, no it's not a fashion choice. Ah'm not as terrified about touching anyone as Ah used to be, but Ah still can't control it." She lowered her voice to almost a whisper and Xander barely caught her next words, "Which is one of the problems Bobby and Ah have been having recently. It's not that Ah don't want to get close to him, it's just that Ah don't want to hurt him either. You know what Ah mean?"  
  
Xander squeezed her hand gently and nodded, "All too well." He replied, his own voice taking on a saddened tone, "A little over a year ago I was engaged. Believe it or not, someone actually wanted to marry me." He gave a soft, humorless laugh, "Her name was Anya. She was, despite being a former vengeance demon, a lot more than I ever deserved. I mean beautiful, sharp as a whip, if a little too literal at times, funny in her own way...a great lover..." he colored deeply and hurried on, "Anyway, to make a long story short, I broke her heart by leaving her at the altar. A demon claiming to be me from the future showed me what our marriage would be like and believe me when I say what I saw was a living hell." He took a deep breathe and continued "Ok, you have to swear not to tell anyone what I'm about to tell you. I didn't even tell my closest friends about this part." Rogue nodded her understanding and it was good enough for him. Somehow he had the feeling Cyclops and Logan weren't exactly the gossiping types. " Well, what the demon showed me was a horrible marriage, we were constantly sniping at each other, our kids hated and resented us, and in the end I ended up hitting her with a frying pan. That's where the vision ended. Granted, it was an illusion designed to break up our relationship. But it worked, I saw the thing I feared the most. I wasn't going to turn out any differently than my old man and it terrified me. I had to walk away to keep her safe."  
  
Rogue's grip on his hand tightened slightly, "Ah'm sorry Xander. Ah can't imagine what it must be like to get that close to someone and have to walk away. Ah mean, even Bobby and Ah aren't that close and given the way things have been going with him lately, even if Ah could touch Ah'm not sure Ah'd picture myself with him long term anymore. If you don't mind me asking, what ever happened to this Anya? Did you manage to stay friends or did she leave town or what?"  
  
Xander smiled sadly, "It probably would have been better if she had left town after that. But that'd have just been too easy for my Anya. Always had to do things the hard way. It took a little while...and her going from being a former vengeance demon to current vengeance demon and back again, but we eventually worked out our issues. We were even heading back towards relationship land, well I was hoping so anyway, when the Apocalypse struck....again. This time not all of us got to walk away from it. From what I heard, she went down fighting." He smiled, "Not that I was really that surprised. If there was one thing my Anya could do well it was fight. Usually with me, but every now and then we could channel that energy into a more appropriate form." From the co-pilot's seat came a low growl and Xander quickly clarified his statement, "Into fighting evil of course, which is the best way to channel any excess energy."  
  
Rogue grinned openly and flashed him a quick wink, "Ah'm sure." She said teasingly, "Cause unless you have a healing factor like someone in this jet," she nodded towards the chair Logan occupied, "Healing takes a good bit of energy."  
  
Xander shot her a mock glare, "Are you saying that I can't take care of myself? I'll have you know that even with my lessened depth perception I'm in as good fighting shape as I ever was." Rogue's grin widened and she placed a slender, gloved finger against the side of her head knowingly. " Not one word, smartass." Xander said with a slight smile, "I'm not the kid I was when I met you." Unconsciously his free hand began to rise towards the patch covering his empty eye socket and he forced it back down.  
  
Rogue nodded in understanding, absently wrapping a few strands of white hair around her index finger, "Ah kinda know what you mean," she said with a wry smile.  
  
Before Xander could ask what she meant by that their attention was pulled to the front of the jet. "We're here," Cyclops said simply, his voice devoid of emotion. Through the front windows Xander could see what appeared to be an old mansion or boarding house, surrounded by forest, with a lone winding road leading to and from the building. * Well, it's isolated enough to be able to hide this thing, provided there's a runway around here for an actual landing * he thought. Much to his surprise, the jet simply hovered for a moment before descending towards a basketball court.  
  
"Not that I'm one to talk," he whispered to Rogue, "but isn't the basketball court kind of exposed for a parking....." he trailed off as the court began to retract below them and the jet sank below ground. Rogue grinned, she'd had about the same reaction the first time she'd seen the Blackbird land, even though she'd been concerned with a comatose Wolverine at the time, there were some things she just couldn't ignore. Finally the jet set down and the occupants unbuckled, readying to disembark. Much to Xander's surprise, Logan was at the ramp almost immediately, tapping his foot impatiently as he waited for it to lower enough for him to get out. Xander shot Rogue a curious glance as the walked past the older man to gather Xander's luggage. "Let me guess,"he whispered conspiratorially, " Mr. Macho over there is afraid of flying." The growl that came from the ramp area was more than enough of a response, causing Rogue to giggle quietly.  
  
"Ah should warn ya," she said. "Wolverine's got great hearing. Ah wouldn't make too many remarks like that around him. He might be a big ole' softie around the students, but he doesn't warm to strangers too quickly." Something in Xander's expression must have worried her a bit as she slung an arm around his waist and gave him a quick hug, "Listen Xander, Ah'm not gonna lie to you, after what's happened recently some of the other kids are going to be a little wary of a normal human coming in here, even if you're my friend. But Ah swear, you really don't have anything to worry about as long as you're the same sweet guy who saved my life when we met. We're not your enemies, you just have to show that not all humans are ours. Ah'm sure that you won't have any problems." Her pep talk seemed to work as Xander straightened a bit and hefted his bag more confidently. Together, they descended the ramp of the blackbird.  
  
Xander had seen some pretty amazing things in his time on the Hellmouth, but the subterranean hanger he now stood in definitely made his top ten list. The walls and ceiling were a cool cobalt blue, and there were odd X shapes on every door attached to the hangar. The only thing keeping Xander from following his desire to explore every inch of the hangar was the soft, constant pressure of Rogue's hand in his. * Very nice * Xander thought admiringly * Can't complain about the décor. No sir, if the guy who runs this place is so fond of X's, then the ole X-Man's going to fit in just fine. *  
  
* Glad to know it meets your high standards, Mr. Harris * a slightly accented, cultured voice responded in Xander's mind, making him jump, his eyes scanning the room for any possible source. The finally settled on a distinguished older man wearing a rich blue suit and a somewhat amused smile, the kind Giles often wore whenever he did or said anything shocked or disturbed any of the Scooby gang. Two things immediately stood out about the man, one he was completely bald, the second was that he was in a wheelchair. Xander shook his head slightly, wondering what he'd gotten himself into as Rogue lead him towards the far door by which the individual sat, following Cyclops and Wolverine who showed no signs that this was in any way out of the ordinary. As they approached the gentleman, another observation slowly dawned on Xander and he fought to hide a grin. * I wouldn't even think about making any Star Trek, references Mr. Harris * the voice came again, confirming Xander's suspicion that the man before him was indeed it's source, * I would hate for any of the students here to learn what your middle name is * the voice concluded teasingly. Xander made an immediate mental note not to say or do anything that would let that secret out of the bag.  
  
"It's good to have you home Rogue," the bald man said, as she leaned down to give him a warm hug, "Bobby's been..." he paused, searching for the right words, "a royal pain in the ass without you here." Xander hid another grin at Rogue's shocked expression. "I'm Professor Charles Xavier," the gentleman said, "Welcome to my school Mr. Harris. I hope that you'll enjoy your time with us. The students certainly could use some exposure to decent humans these days, and from what I learned of you from Rogue, I couldn't think of a better person to help them readjust to normal humans" he finished, shaking the younger man's hand.  
  
Xander smiled, flashing a quick wink at Rogue and noting a slight frown crossing her delicate face * I'll have to try to talk to her later, find out what's worrying her * he thought , "It's a pleasure to be here Professor. Though the number of people who would agree with you on my normalcy is incredibly small." This earned him a smile "Kidding aside though, I owe you. You can't possibly imagine what it's like to sit on your ass all day answering phones." Xander's eyes widened and his free hand flew to his mouth as what he just said registered in his brain. He felt Rogue tense next to him, and despite not being able to see the other two men in the room he had the distinct impression that they two were watching the Professor for an idea of how to react.  
  
Xavier laughed, a deep, belly laugh and his amusement was evident in his sharp blue eyes, "You'd be surprised Mr. Harris, just how long a teleconference with a student's parents can last. Especially when you have to explain to them that their child blew a hole in one of the institute's walls and that they should be proud of that fact." The tension in the room dissipated almost as quickly as it arose and Professor Xavier turned his chair towards the door, which opened silently on its tracks. "I know you're probably anxious to meet some of the other students, Mr. Harris," he said, "but if you wouldn't mind sitting for a bit longer, I would love to talk to you about a matter I learned of from Rogue. Apparently the vampires and other monsters I loved to read about as a child aren't as imaginary as I thought they were. What can you tell me about this... hellmouth, is it?" Xander strolled casually alongside the Professor's chair as the group headed out of the hanger and down the long corridor towards the elevator to the upper levels of the mansion.  
  
"I hope you've got time Professor," Xander said, "This is going to be one long story. Might as well start at the beginning. You see, in every generation there is...or I should say was, a Chosen One...recently things have gotten a lot more interesting...but I'm getting ahead of myself." 


	7. Warm introductions and Icy receptions

The More Things Change  
  
Author: RoguesKnight  
  
Chapter 7: Warm introductions and Icy Receptions.  
  
Disclaimer: Not mine. I tried to sneak Rogue away and nearly lost my hand to one of Marvel's lawyers. So, once again, the characters contained herein, with a few exceptions are the property of Marvel, 20th Century Fox, Joss Whedon, and Mutant Enemy.  
  
Dedication: To my darling fiancée, who puts up with all my oddities and still loves me for who I am. I love you! And to my wonderful readers and reviewers, thanks for not losing faith in me and this story, I know it's been a while since I've been able to update but things have just gotten a little lighter and with finals right around the corner, it won't be too long til I have even more time to write. Thanks for keeping me going.  
  
"So" Professor Xavier said contemplatively, leaning his arms forward  
onto his desk, "this spell...for lack of a better term, has awakened every  
potential Slayer on the planet, gifting them with super human strength,  
agility, and stamina among other traits." It was a lot for him to take in  
and he had seen some strange things in the world, even before he had  
decided to assemble a team to protect the world, both humans and mutants,  
from those who would threaten it. However, the yarn the young man sitting  
in front of him had just spun was hard to believe, especially if it was  
true.  
  
Xander, on the other hand looked relatively nonplussed. He'd gotten over  
his initial shock that all of the residents of the mansion, except  
himself, possessed superhuman abilities of one sort or another. Even the  
fact that some of the residents seemed to live the sort of adventures  
he'd only read about in comic books didn't phase him too much. In fact,  
it was something of a relief to know that he and the Scoobies or the Fang  
Gang weren't the only ones out there fighting the good fight. He smiled,  
"Well, it's either that or almost all of the women I know these days  
have been secretly taking steroids when I haven't been looking. Now don't  
get me wrong, I've seen many of them stare death in the eye without  
flinching, but I can't envision too many of them being willing to stick a  
needle into themselves on a regular basis, so I'm going to go with yea,  
potential Slayers are all becoming Slayers." He leaned back in his soft  
padded seat and watched as Professor seemed to take the reality of the  
world in much more calmly than Xander himself had all those years ago.  
  
Charles nodded thoughtfully, his sharp blue eyes seeming to focus on  
something far off for a moment before he spoke again, "And you're  
absolutely sure this is a purely mystical force that causes these young  
women to be chosen as Slayers, yes?" Xander nodded, drawing a troubled  
sigh from Professor Xavier. "Xander," he said calmly, "I'll level with  
you. I've seen a lot in my days, not as much as you have apparently," he  
held up a hand warding off the disagreement he could feel rising in the  
young man, "No, please let me finish. While I've had my share of odd  
experiences, the vast majority of them if not all can be understood in  
terms of science. The fact that there is a mystical side to this world is  
not only new to me, I also find it deeply disturbing. This Slayer  
business is especially troubling; if I understand you correctly, there  
are very few limitations as to who can be chosen, the biggest of those  
being that the individual must be female and more generally within a  
certain age range."  
  
Xander nodded again, shifting uncomfortably in his seat, not quite  
understanding what Xavier found so troubling about the whole Slayer deal,  
"Yea, you've pretty much got a handle on it. There might be other  
factors at work, like, I don't know date of birth or astronomical  
alignment or something that causes a particular girl to be chosen. I'm  
not exactly a Watcher like Giles or anything, so I don't know all the  
details. But the nuts and bolts of the matter is it's a girl, usually a  
teenager, though with this spell, we'll probably see some older women and  
some younger girls who are Slayers now too. I'm not sure I see what the  
problem is though. We'll find them, train them to fight the good fight  
and keep evil on its toes, no biggie."  
  
Xavier smiled, amused by the younger man's nonchalant attitude, "Xander,  
I have no doubt in you and your friends abilities to find these young  
women and convince them of the need to apply their new found strengths to  
the cause of good. However," he added, manipulating the controls to wheel  
his chair next to Xander's, "We both know that not all of them will be  
willing to fight the good fight. Some I suspect, would rather spend their  
lives on the run from the creatures that will be drawn to them by their  
status as slayers. Others...well, not all heed Lord Acton's warning about  
the ability of power to corrupt, and you may be faced with more than one  
Slayer who doesn't quite care what she uses her power for so long as she  
benefits." He noticed the slight shudder that ran through the younger  
man's body and caught a sudden rise in Xander's anxiety level he reached  
up to massage his throat absently, apparently remembering some close  
call. Seeing that Xander was beginning to see what the big deal could be,  
he continued, "But what really concerns me Xander, is the apparent  
randomness of the selection of Slayers. If it is as random as you  
suggest, then there could be an even greater danger if a young woman who  
is a mutant is chosen." He rolled over to one of the large office windows  
and gazed out of it contemplatively. Xander stood and walked next to the  
older man, wondering what if anything he should say. "You've no doubt  
heard about the incidents at Liberty Island and the more recent attack on  
the President and the cerebro attack," Xavier stated, watching as  
students played a pick up game of basketball, "While I wish I could say  
that they were isolated incidents that were spurred on by only a few  
extremists I fear it isn't so. Attitudes on both sides, human and mutant,  
have become strongly polarized and just as more humans are in favor of  
passing the mutant registration act now, there are more mutants who see  
themselves as being in danger and having the right to protect themselves  
by any means necessary. Now, imagine if a mutant who was already  
stronger than humans received an additional strength boost as a result of  
being chosen as a slayer. Furthermore, lets suppose she was one of those  
who felt that she had to fight back against humans. Do you really think  
anyone would be equipped to stop such an individual?"  
  
Xander paled slightly, "You know, never really thought about the wide  
spread implications of making every potential into a Slayer. The whole  
trying to avert the end of the world kinda put everything else on the  
back burner." Despite his growing apprehension at the possibility of a  
genetic war fought with Slayers in the mix, Xander grinned, putting a  
hand on Xavier's shoulder, "I've got to introduce you to Giles some day  
Professor. You both have a knack for making gloom and doom so much more  
real.  
  
Xavier smiled back, "I'd like that. From what you've told me, he seems  
like he's quite the interesting fellow. As a matter of fact, given the  
potential that a mutant could now be a Slayer on top of everything I  
wouldn't mind speaking with him to see what he suggests the best course  
of action would be. I know it seems a bit much to ask, as we both have  
secrets that we are not apt to share with others about what our  
respective organizations do, but if there is a phone number at which I  
might reach Mr. Giles, perhaps you could give it to me? This whole  
situation makes me a tad more uneasy than I'd like to admit."  
  
"Sure thing" Xander said, walking back towards the desk in search of a  
pen and paper, "Giles doesn't have a cell phone or anything, I think  
he's afraid of them, but I can give you the number at the Hyperion. If  
Giles is back in the country by now I'm sure he'll be there." Finding a  
blank post-it note and a pen Xander quickly scribbled down a number and  
included an extension before walking back to the window and handing it to  
the Professor. "The extension will send the call straight to the phone  
on my desk, instead of the main line which takes more of our mundane  
calls. Just tell whoever answers that you're a friend of mine and you're  
looking for Giles, you probably won't have any trouble. However, if they  
don't believe you, ask to speak to Willow and tell her that you know my  
middle name is LaVelle. She knows I wouldn't tell that to just anyone,  
even if my life were at stake."  
  
Xavier smiled, accepting the post-it note from Xander, "Your secret is  
safe with me. It's been a pleasure talking with you Xander, and I hope  
you enjoy your time with us. I don't foresee any problems, but if any of  
the students says anything to you, please don't let it get to you.  
They've recently been through a lot."  
  
"Hey, mutant powers or not, they're still high school students," Xander  
quipped, "Been there, done that. How bad can it be?"  
  
"Well then, I should let you go get acquainted with our students here  
Mr. Harris," Professor Xavier said, extending his hand, "Especially  
since there's been a particular student waiting outside the door  
wondering just how long I was going to keep you in here for the past half  
hour. I think she's anxious to see you. We have arranged a room for you  
in the teacher's wing of the building I'm sure Rogue will be happy to  
show you where it is."  
  
Xander shook the Professor's hand warmly before heading towards the  
office door. Boy, that telepathy really comes in handy from time to  
time He thought.  
  
You have no idea came the slightly amused reply inside his head, making him jump as his hand touched the doorknob. Xander cast a mock annoyed glance back at the bald man who was still serenely gazing out the window and chucked to himself. Something tells me that this is going to be one interesting trip he thought as he left the room.  
  
The heavy oak door had barely closed behind him when Xander found himself enveloped in the arms of a very excited Rogue. "So, everything's ok, isn't it?" She asked without preamble, "Ah mean with you being here and all. You're not gonna have to stay all by yourself or anything are you?" Xander smiled, whatever Marie had been through with Xavier and his people it had done wonders. He barely recognized her as the shy, withdrawn girl he'd saved in Tennessee. Looking over the top of her head he could see three other students, who appeared to be around the same age as Marie, a boy and two girls. And judging from the glare the boy was giving him, Xander figured he should cut the hug short. Of course, he wasn't about to let some possessive boyfriend interfere with his friendship with Marie. He met the glare of the younger man with an easy smile of his own and gave Marie an extra squeeze before releasing her and stepping back to answer her questions.  
  
"No, I'm not going to have to keep to myself, though you'll probably wish I would sooner or later. The Prof tells me that there's a room set up for me in the teacher's wing and school was never my favorite thing so I don't suspect I'll be popping in to observe any classes but other than that, I'm pretty much free to mingle." He leaned against the wall and looked pointedly past her and smiled, "So are you going to introduce me to your friends or is this a test to see if I have any mutant abilities, cause for the record I'm not a telepath."  
  
Rogue flushed slightly, as if she'd forgotten they weren't alone, " Ah was going to get to that if you'd let me" she stated with an offended air, that lasted all of a minute before breaking into a smile. "Ok, so my manners still need a little work, but they've been improving since our last meeting. Xander Ah'd like you to meet my roommates Kitty Pryde and Jubilation Lee." The two girls behind her came forward, allowing Xander to get a better look at them.  
  
"I'd be Kitty" said the one closest to him. She was about Rogue's height with short auburn hair and clear blue eyes. Something about the way she carried herself reminded him powerfully of Dawn, "It's a pleasure to meet you Xander," she said, "Now maybe Rogue will stop babbling about what a great guy you are and how we're all going to just love you" She grinned cheekily and flashed a wink at a visibly embarrassed Rogue.  
  
"Nice to meet you too Kitty," Xander said, shaking her hand and grinning, "Since my reputation precedes me I'm going to do everything in my power to correct the obvious lies she's been telling." He winked conspiratorially and turned to the other young woman, "So by process of elimination I'm guessing you're Jubilation. Unless Mr. Frowns over there is," he nodded to the lone figure who hadn't let up from his initial glare.  
  
The shorter Asian girl smiled, extending a well manicured hand, " Please, it's Jubilee. I don't know what my parents were on when they named me but no one here calls me Jubilation unless I'm in trouble. Which isn't too often" she added. From the corner of his eye Xander noticed Kitty elbow Rogue in her side and both girls seemed to be trying not to laugh at that last bit. Obviously Jubilee had seen it too because her smile widened and turned a bit feral as she remarked, "You know Rogue you're right. He is a major hottie, and the eye patch....mmmm...just the right bit of rough edge to him. I can see the attraction. Wolverine, Xander, you like your men dangerous don't you girl?" Rogue went completely silent, blushing three different shades of red and looked like she wanted to melt through the floor. Kitty on the other hand slid down the wall, her hand covering her mouth to keep back laughter and looked for all the world as if she was having trouble not melting through the floor. Xander had to admit, it was a little odd to be hit on so obviously again, it'd been a while since he'd met someone as frank as Anya had been, but the initial shock slid away quickly. He noticed the only one not amused by Jubilee's remarks was Rogue's sulky boyfriend.  
  
"Has anyone ever warned him that if he's not careful his face is going to freeze like that?" Xander asked. The only response he got was Jubilee's dissolving into a fit of giggles and joining Kitty on the floor, even Rogue only offered an enigmatic and amused smile so Xander did the only thing he could to find out what everyone thought was so damned amusing. "Alexander Harris, Xander to my friends and the friends of my friends," he said walking over to the younger man and extending his hand, " And you would be?"  
  
"Rogue's boyfriend" came the terse reply. Xander attributed the sudden drop in temperature to the boy's demeanor and dropped his hand seeing that the younger man wasn't in any hurry to get acquainted.  
  
"Bobby!" Rogue admonished her boyfriend, coming up to him and whapping him none too gently in the shoulder, "He's my friend and unlike some, trying to be polite. Now play nice. Xander had the distinct impression that he'd somehow gotten stuck in the middle of something and it wasn't pretty, he caught the faintest whisper of Kitty and Jubilee's conversation from the floor, something to the effect of Bobby being jealous, and judging from the look on the younger man's face he had the feeling they were dead on target. Unfortunately.  
  
The blonde youth glared at his girlfriend before turning to Xander, obviously fighting to make his expression at least neutral. "Call me Iceman," he said coolly, finally offering Xander his hand. Xander let out a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding, maybe things wouldn't have to be so tense around Rogue now that the boyfriend seemed to be willing to be at least civil. Xander plastered as warm a smile as he could manage on his face and moved to shake the younger man's hand only to have his arm shoved away by Rogue.  
  
"Let's just say I know what he was up to" Rogue said by way of explanation. She turned Bobby's hand over, palm up and Xander could see the barest hint of what appeared to be ice covering the younger man's hand. "And while I'm sure you'll meet Dr. McCoy eventually," she continued, "I think you'd prefer to meet him without needing treatment for frost bite as the reason." She gave Bobby a dirty look which seemed to have absolutely no effect on him. The young man seemed completely unrepentant as he shook free of Rogue's hold and turned away, stalking off down the hall.  
  
Maybe I was wrong about things not being so tense Xander thought, watching Bobby walk away. When the younger man got to the end of the hall he cast one more glance towards the group at the end of the hall, his eyes meeting each of theirs in turn. Xander couldn't be sure of what message he was giving the three women, but the look Xander received was clear "stay away from my girl". He suppressed a sigh, I almost forgot what a pain in the ass jealous teenage males can be he thought. Deciding to put dealing with Bobby's jealousy on a back burner for the time being, Xander smiled charmingly and offered a hand to both Jubilee and Kitty, helping the young women back to their feet. "Well that was fun. Anyone up for showing me where this room of mine is and maybe helping me get settled in?". In retrospect, it probably would have been safer to just ask Rogue where the room was and if she could take him up there. As it was he quickly found each of his arms occupied by Kitty and Jubilee who were trying to pull him off somewhere at near breakneck speeds, with a softly chuckling Rogue trailing behind them. 


	8. Harm

The More Things Change Chapter 8: Harm  
  
Author: RoguesKnight  
  
Disclaimer: None of the recognizable characters in this story are mine. If you recognize any of my characters, I'm touched, but by and large if you see a name you know they're the respective properties of Marvel, 20th Century Fox, Joss Whedon, and Mutant Enemy.  
  
Dedication: To my amazing fiancée. I miss you! I love you! And more or less of the apt will still be standing when you get back home. To my wonderfully patient reviewers, sorry for the delay in updating. I really want to finish this thing so I can find out how it ends too.  
  
And away we go  
  
  
  
It was just after sundown when Sarah Jameson found herself standing  
outside a relatively non-descript, apparently run down, bar in one of the  
worse sections of L.A. The neighborhood's high crime rate alone would be  
enough to keep passerby from spending too much time on the street  
wondering about the building's contents. And should a tourist be brazen  
enough to enter, the bar's rather unique clientele would make sure that  
they didn't get the chance to exit and tell anyone what they'd seen  
inside. As was the case with most of the city's demon bars, you didn't  
get in and out unharmed unless you were known to the patrons, or were  
heavily armed enough to fight your way out, and sometimes if your luck  
just really sucked, being known and armed might not be enough. Of course,  
Friends of Humanity was well known to the city's demon underworld. In  
the early days of the group's founding demons had been mistaken as  
mutants, taken in and experimented on, weaknesses discovered and  
exploited. It wasn't until the dissolution of a covert military group  
known as the Initiative and the absorption of some of it's key personnel  
that the F.O.H. learned the true nature of the creatures they had been  
capturing. Not that it made much of a difference one way or the other,  
mutant or demon, both represented a threat to humanity's survival.  
However, demons were part of the natural order of things, mutants, no  
matter what bleeding heart liberals said, were not and so an uneasy truce  
had been established between demonkind and the F.O.H. there were  
occasional skirmishes that strained the bonds of the truce  
  
Looking around to make sure no one was paying too much attention to  
her, Sarah pulled a .44 Magnum from its holster, hidden by the black  
leather jacket she was wearing, and flipped the safety off. Just because  
on average demons left the F.O.H.'s membership alone was no reason to  
take any unnecessary risks. She then replaced the clip of normal bullets  
with one specifically developed to deal with other worldly opponents. One  
of the early lessons on demons Friends of Humanity had learned, the hard  
way, was that they were hard as hell to kill most of the time, no pun  
intended. However, the majority could be seriously injured by silver, if  
not outright killed by it, and thanks to the contributions of former  
Initiative members, they had developed armor piercing silver hollow  
tipped bullets that had been filled with holy water. The results were  
spectacular, even missing the heart of a Vamp could dust it as the holy  
water flowed through its system, and while it wasn't necessarily lethal  
to non-Vampire demons, the effects were enough to make them hastily  
reconsider whether attacking was worth it. Satisfied that she was ready  
if she had to be, Sarah re-holstered her weapon with the same casual  
grace she'd removed it, and entered the bar.  
  
She grimaced as the sounds of Britney Spears assaulted her ears upon  
entering. She knew that the young pop star was a vengeance demon in  
actuality, but she still couldn't understand why demons of all sorts  
seemed drawn to her music. Her cool grey eyes surveyed the scene,  
ignoring the chaos demon bumping and grinding with a lithe dark haired  
woman who just screamed "vampire" with her unnatural grace, and finding  
an empty table near the back of the bar closest to the wall. That'll  
do She decided, Give me a pretty good view of the door without  
giving any being a chance to sneak up on her from behind. She waved away  
the waiter/waitress, that almost immediately appeared at her side.  
Whatever demon species it was, she couldn't determine its sex. Now was  
definitely not the time or the place to cloud her judgment, not if she  
wanted to make it out in one piece. She pulled the gun from her holster  
and laid it on the table in front of her, far enough from her hand as to  
not make any of the other patrons nervous, but close enough that she  
could grab it and fire a shot or two should the need arise. The message  
was clear: mess with me and don't expect to walk away unscathed. With an  
annoyed sigh, she pulled back the left sleeve of her jacket and glanced  
at her watch. The sun had been down for almost half an hour and her  
contact was nowhere to be seen. "That's the problem with so called  
immortal creatures" she groused, "just because they think they have all  
the time in the world, they assume everyone else does too." The comment  
brought annoyed glares from creatures close enough, or with sensitive  
enough hearing to catch it, but she only coolly returned their glares  
until they looked away first. She allowed herself a small, private smile  
when the last went back to its business. The fact of the matter was that  
no matter how long lived most of the bars patrons may be, there was  
generally some way to kill them, if they couldn't accept it, that was  
their problem. Denial of truths like that was often the easiest way to  
get killed.  
  
It'd been six hours since Harris had boarded that jet in the middle of  
the desert and this was the first time she'd really had any time to sit  
down, even if it was for work. She'd taken the film back to HQ for  
processing and had put out feelers with the F.O.H.'s contacts, both human  
and non for any information on Harris and his past, figuring there had to  
be some clue, something that connected him to the mutants on that strange  
black jet. It hadn't been four hours after she put out the request that  
Rivers had called her into his office. He'd commended her on her work in  
getting the photos of Harris with the mutants and informed her that she  
had a meeting scheduled with a contact referring to itself only as Harm.  
No other information had been available about the contact, gender,  
species, nothing. Apparently who or whatever Harm was, it was pretty good  
at playing things close to its chest.  
  
It was another half hour before a disturbance at the front of the bar  
drew her attention. Six vampires had entered, five burly males and one  
lithe, blond female who was hanging on the arm of the one doing his best  
to seem a badass. She couldn't hear what the vampires were saying to the  
various demons and half-breeds they passed, but it was obviously a show  
of muscle and bravado, though there were moments where a fight nearly  
erupted. Why is it that I have the feeling that's Harm? Sarah  
wondered, sitting up a little straighter and focusing on the vamp with  
the blonde on his arm. From his build, she guessed he'd been a body  
builder in life, and perhaps genuinely in a biker gang. He seemed far too  
at ease with the copious amounts of leather he was wearing for it to be a  
recent fashion choice. The blonde woman caught her eye and motioned to  
her companion. Almost as one, the six vampires began making their way  
towards Sarah's table. Bout damn time She thought, They want  
bluster and bravado, that I can do. With long practiced ease, she  
lifted her gun from the table and chambered a round where they could  
clearly see the action.  
  
"What's that little pea shooter gonna do to me, sweet cheeks?" the  
biker asked, letting his game face slide into place, "If you haven't  
noticed, I'm not exactly worried about losing blood."  
  
Sarah smiled grimly. That must be his idea of witty banter , she  
thought. What she said was, "You must be Harm. I believe you have some  
information for me." She motioned to the seat across from her "Didn't  
realize you'd be bringing back-up for a little meeting with a mere human.  
But if it makes you feel more like a man," she jabbed with a feral grin  
as eliciting a growl from the vamp, "who am I to judge? I just don't  
have any chairs for your buddies. Guess they'll have to stand."  
  
The biker let his game face fade away, not that his human face was any  
more attractive. A ragged scar ran from just below his left eye down  
along his jaw line. "I'll stand." He growled barely keeping his human  
façade in place, pulling out the chair he added, "Here ya go baby doll."  
The young looking blonde vampire smiled prettily and slid into the chair  
without a word. Sarah spared her a glance. When dealing with demons it  
was always best not to underestimate them based on appearances. Sarah  
knew that though the young woman sitting in front of her wearing the pink  
tank top with a white unicorn on it looked as though she'd barely  
finished high school when she'd been turned, she could still easily crush  
the bones in Sarah's body if she so chose.  
  
"The information you claim to have?" Sarah prodded again. The sooner  
she was out of this idiot's presence, the better.  
  
"Money first." The biker said simply, extending a hand roughly  
towards her.  
  
"The Friends of Humanity don't pay for bad information Harm," she  
said coolly, leveling the barrel of the gun at his chest, just a bit  
below where his heart should have been. "Now, you tell me what you know  
about Harris, and anything that might connect him to these mutants," with  
her free hand she pulled an envelope out of her jacket and tossed it onto  
the table in front of the blonde woman, who immediately opened it and  
went looking through the pictures it contained, "and then, I'll pay you  
what I think this information is worth."  
  
The vampires laughed. It was a loud and abrasive sound, not at all  
pleasant. "You've got guts, I'll give you that." The biker vamp who'd  
been doing all of the talking, obviously the intellectual of the group,  
said, letting his game face fall once more into place. "And I'm gonna  
rip them out and show them to you unless you give me the money, now. If  
you're lucky, you might get to walk out of here to boot." Almost faster  
than the eye could follow, his arm snaked out for her. It was the worst  
mistake he could have made. Sarah had been anticipating the move and her  
finger tensed on the trigger twice, the bullets slamming into the vampire  
and knocking him back into a table with force of the impact. The bar went  
quiet as he pulled himself back onto his feet, growling loudly.  
  
"Big mistake" he said menacingly. He had no idea how right he was, "  
I was going to let you walk out of here...now, they'll be carrying you...."  
He stopped mid-threat and grasped his chest where the bullets had  
entered. Why was it burning like that? He'd been shot dozens of times  
since being turned and it never felt like this before. The fire in his  
veins quickly spread throughout his body and with an agonized scream, he  
turned to ash. Moments later, the noise of the bar returned, the other  
patrons deciding that the excitement was over.  
  
"Damn," the young blonde vampire said, "Do you have any idea how  
hard it is to find a guy like Jake? I actually had to go into a biker  
bar. Have you ever been to one? The thought of the women's room there  
still makes me shudder."  
  
Sarah's attention immediately jerked to the woman sitting in front of  
her with a smug smile on her pretty features. "That wasn't Harm?" she  
asked cautiously, her eyes flicking to the four remaining male vampires,  
trying to figure out which one of them could possibly be smart enough to  
use a decoy. If she'd had to guess, she'd have been way off.  
  
"God no," the blonde said, her smile widening, "I am. Well Harmony.  
But as I've been informed, Harmony's gang just doesn't have an  
appropriate air of menace, so I go by Harm for business deals."  
  
Sarah leveled her gun at Harmony. She'd underestimated the woman's  
intelligence, she wasn't willing to make any other assumptions, like, oh  
for example, the blonde wouldn't make her pay for killing one of her  
people. "Ok, Harm. I'm giving you the same deal I gave him. I like what  
you have to say, you can walk out of her a wealthier woman. If it's  
crap..."  
  
"I get it," Harmony smiled, "I'm not as stupid as I look." She  
seemed to consider the comment before barging on, "I took a look at your  
pictures, and I can't say I know anything about the people on the jet.  
Never seen any of them before in my life, though that guy with the claws  
looks downright yummy. Do you mind if I keep a copy of that particular  
picture til I can replace my Jakey?" Sarah nodded quietly and Harmony  
handed the picture to one of the quiet male vamps standing behind her. "  
Ok, so you want to know about Harris? I went to high school with him.  
Here's all you need to know. He's a loser. Big time zero. Just the  
Slayer's lapdog, following her around and pretending to be a hero, like  
he remotely matters one way or the other in this world."  
  
Sarah looked at her skeptically, "You mean to tell me that an average  
human being with no special powers fought alongside a Slayer? There's  
nothing remarkable about him at all?"  
  
Harmony laughed lightly, "I know. Hard to believe isn't it? He's the  
most worthless person I've ever met. Completely and totally average in  
every sense of the word, or so my old friend Cordelia told me," she added  
with a wink. A cough from one of the male vampires drew her attention and  
he leaned in, whispering something into her ear too low for Sarah to make  
out. "You're kidding?" Harmony asked incredulously, the male vampire  
shook his head. "Ewwww...and that's why I stayed away from our swim team.  
Well that and their rampant losing streaks." Off of Sarah's curious  
expression she explained, "Anthony here used to go to Sunnydale High  
with me and Xander. In fact, the two of them were on the swim team  
together. Apparently, they were exposed to a mutagenic steroid compound  
by the coach. It caused a couple guys to rip out of their skin, become  
some sort of fish monsters. Apparently, the only reason Anthony is still  
as hunky and scale free as he is is that there was apparently a cure for  
the mutation. I don't know if there'd be any lasting effects to his  
genetic structure or anything, but still..."  
  
Sarah sat up a little straighter, There's a cure for mutation?  
Rivers would love to know that. If the F.O.H could mass produce it they'd  
be instant saviors of the species. That bit of information was well  
worth the five grand she was carrying in her jacket, maybe more. "Well,  
once we have Mr. Harris in our custody, we can check for any such  
effects. You've been most helpful Harm." She pulled an envelope from  
within her jacket, "Five thousand, promised, and I can assure you that  
the Friends of Humanity would be willing to at least double that if you  
can find and provide the formula used to prevent mutation, or the doctors  
who have such knowledge." She noticed the predatory gleam in the young  
blonde's eyes. "Alive or turned only," she amended, "They're no good to  
us dead."  
  
Harmony nodded her understanding and, without a word, rose from the  
table and headed out the door, her four remaining lackeys following like  
obedient puppies. Sarah gave them a good fifteen minutes to clear the  
area, just in case they decided to try jumping her to see if she had more  
cash, before heading out the door herself. She walked the two blocks to a  
slightly better section of L.A. and remounted her motorcycle. Gunning the  
engine, she sped off back towards headquarters. 


	9. Discoveries

The More Things Change

Chapter 9: Discoveries.

Author: RoguesKnight

Disclaimer: Xander, well for that matter any of the Scoobies or Fang Gang in general, doesn't belong to me, they are the property of Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, 20th Century fox and scads of lawyers. Same goes for Rogue, Kitty, any of the X-Men, who belong to those wonderful folks at Marvel, and their lawyers. I'm just hanging with them for a bit. I swear they'll be none the worse for wear. …as long as nothing bad happens.

Dedication: Yea, I know it's been a while since I updated, far, far too long in fact. Had a massive does of writer's block and more work than I could handle for a while. Fortunately, it's the school year, so of course I have plenty of time to write when I should be studying. Hehehe. As always, dedicated to my wonderful fiancée and my fabulous reviewers.

The room that had been arranged for Xander's stay was sparsely decorated without being Spartan. In addition to the twin sized bed pressed against the far wall, there was medium sized mahogany desk and a high backed wooden chair. Clearly a testament to the early days of the institute. A large window overlooked the front lawn, with a clear view of the driveway leading up from the main gate to the institute. Xander stood with his back to the bed, putting his few things into the closet and trying not to be bowled over by Kitty and Jubilee's obvious flirtations while having a serious conversation with them at the same time. There were few men who'd be capable of such a feat. Fortunately, his experience with Anya had prepared him for just about anything.

" So," Jubilee said, leaning back against the headboard of the bed between Kitty and Rogue, " Come clean. The eye patch, it's just a gimmick to impress girls, isn't it? Make you seem all tough and dangerous." Beside her Rogue groaned, burying her face in her gloved hands and Kitty drove a very sharp elbow into her side.

Hanging his last shirt, Xander turned to face the bed, leaning against the closet door. He seemed to consider the comment for a moment, a flash of pain flitting across his rugged features before finally coming to a conclusion. " You know, I hadn't thought of that potential. No, it's real. Behind this oh-so-wonderful little black patch is an honest to god disfiguring scar. Just a little parting gift from the Hellmouth." Jubilee at least had the good grace to look embarrassed. Her mouth worked soundlessly as she searched for something to say to that. Kitty fortunately came to her rescue.

" So, you're serious. Vampires and demons are real?" She delicately fingered the star of David hanging from the gold chain around her neck, a worried frown darkening her pretty features, " I mean Rogue gave us a little background info about how you two met and everything when she got the ok for you to come out here, but I just can't accept that you saved her from a Vampire. I mean, it just can't be…" She trailed off, obviously disturbed. Without a word Rogue and Jubilee wrapped their arms around their frightened friend. This of course meant Rogue ended up holding both other girls, careful not to make contact with bare skin.

Xander smiled, seeing just how close the three girls seemed to be. Marie's definitely changed since the last time I saw her he mused. Good to see that she's made some friends for herself and settled down . Xander pulled the chair away from the desk for himself, flipping it around and straddling it, his arms crossed on the back of it comfortably. " You know, my friend Willow had a similar reaction when we first found out" He said amiably as the girls took a seat, " in fact most people do the denial thing pretty well. But trust me, unfortunately it's true. The world's a lot older than anyone realizes, and some of the older things in it, like demons and vampires are real."

Kitty looked like she was going to faint, prompting Rogue and Jubilee to readjust their grips on their friend. " If what you're saying's true," Kitty managed, " then why are any of us still here? I mean let's ignore the other kinds of demons, cause I really don't want to know just how many there are out there, and just talk vampires." She seemed to gain a little strength and color back and pulled away slightly from Rogue and Jubilee, meeting Xander's eye with a challenging stare. " If the literature on vampires is remotely accurate, why haven't they wiped us out? I mean, inhuman strength, impervious to most weapons, able to control people's minds…" Caught up in her train of logic, Kitty failed to notice the slightly embarrassed look that crossed Xander's face at that last part. Rogue, however, didn't miss it and made a mental note to ask him about it later. " And then there's feeding and reproduction," Kitty continued " It's exponential. One makes two, two make four, and so on." She finished, " So I ask again, with all that in their favor, why are we still the dominant species on the planet?"

"You'll have to excuse her," Jubilee said with a grin, " She thinks she's a genius." Kitty lunged across Rogue's lap to grab a pillow and turned back to attack her smart-assed friend. Rogue caught Xander's eye and shook her head, smiling, as if to say this sort of thing happened all the time.

" It's ok," Xander said, humor evident in his voice, " I think smart girls are sexy" He tossed a wink Kitty's way making her blush bright red and begin to phase through the bed in embarrassment. Well Xander thought, That explains what her mutant ability is. That would have come in handy back in high school, I could have actually sunk through the floor instead of wishing the earth would just open up and swallow me." He waited as Kitty pulled herself together and back out of the bed. " Seriously though, it's a good question. The answer's a little involved. Partly it's because they, for the most part, though I could name a couple of exceptions, aren't just mindless animals. They don't turn everyone that they feed off of. After all, if everyone eventually got turned into vampires, there'd be no food left for them. Well that and the whole allure of being 'creatures of the night' wouldn't be nearly as strong. And then how would they be able to lure young women into the sack?" The faintest hint of bitterness in his voice caused the three young mutants to burst into uncontrollable giggles.

" Ah swear Xander," Rogue said with a smirk, " if Ah didn't know you better Ah'd swear you were jealous" Xander glared daggers at the younger woman, eliciting more giggles from Jubilee and Kitty and turning her smirk into a full fledged grin, " Ah mean, you oughta know that girls don't just go for the whole dark, bad boy, mystery guy thing. They much prefer perfect Angels" Kitty and Jubilee had the distinct feeling that they were missing something, and judging from the way Xander's face darkened, it was something big.

" Oh really Rogue?" Kitty asked, " Then explain why you were mumbling Logan's name in your sleep last night instead of Bobby's". A sudden stillness fell over the room and Xander had a strong suspicion that a line had just been seriously crossed. Jubilee carefully extracted herself from the bed and crossed to stand by Xander's chair, obviously worried about what was going to happen. On bed, Rogue slowly turned fully to face Kitty, who was backing up against the headboard, the realization of just how much trouble she was in finally sinking in.

"What did you just say?" the young southerner drawled out slowly, her gloved hands clenching and unclenching in barely controlled anger. Xander almost swore that he heard something akin to a growl under the words, and rose from his chair, ready to intervene somehow if things went too much further.

" Hey, not my fault that you have unresolved issues concerning a certain bad boy here at the institute," Kitty said remarkably flippantly considering the rage she could see building in her friend's eyes. The remark almost instantly got the response she'd wanted. With a wordless roar of anger, Rogue dove at, and then through, Kitty, who'd had the common sense to phase seconds before the attack. Unharmed, she scampered to the foot of the bed and turned for face Rogue. " You can't hit what you can't touch" she smirked.

" Ladies, ladies," Xander said in what he hoped was a placating tone as he approached the bed, his hands outstretched in front of him, " I enjoy the thought of two beautiful young women wrestling around on my bed as much as the next guy. Well, ok, so the circumstances are usually a little different and there's a lot less clothes…ok, off track and non-productive…let's try again. How about we just call a truce and talk this out like reasonable adults, or almost adults?" He tried to ignore the snicker he heard from behind him, which wasn't easy considering it wasn't that long ago that he'd have snickered at the thought of saying something so mature himself. However, as the only "adult" in the room he felt it was his duty to try and get things back under control, he was actually surprised that the noise hadn't brought anyone else to see what was wrong and knew that if things didn't cool down soon it wouldn't be long before someone, probably Logan, came to investigate. I soo do not want to be here if that happens Xander thought, keeping his eyes on the girls, he could see that Kitty was starting to warm up to the idea, but had his doubts about Rogue.

" Fine," Kitty said, turning her back on Rogue deliberately, and facing Xander. " I just figured that turnabout was fair play considering how she just loves to get on me about Piotr. And," she added darkly noticing a smirk tugging at the corners of Xander's mouth, " if you make one smart-assed remark about her getting on me, I swear I will phase you right through the wall and drop you into the holly bushes, about fifteen feet down." Xander's smirk broke out into a grin, he had to admit, the young auburn haired girl definitely had spunk. He turned his attention to Rogue and was about to ask if she could discuss things like a civilized adult when she launched herself at Kitty's back. There was no time to even think about shouting a warning; however, it was almost as if Kitty had sensed the attack coming and let Rogue sail once again through her body. This time once her friend passed through, Kitty solidified herself and grabbed Rogue by the ankle, and pivoted enough to keep her from going off the bed and possibly through the window, before releasing her, straight into Xander. The combined momentum of Rogue's lunge and Kitty's toss, knocked Xander back into Jubilee, and Jubilee went down over Xander's chair leading to the three of them ending up a pile of bodies on the floor and the chair in pieces. Fortunately no one's exposed skin was in contact with Rogue's.

"Oops," Kitty said sheepishly from her position on the bed.

" Oops?" came the reply from a slightly smushed Jubilee, as she tried pushing both Xander and Rogue off of her, " Oops? Oops is when you accidentally spill something on your friend's sweater that you borrowed and don't remember to get it dry cleaned. This is so much more than oops." With a grunt she finally managed to roll Xander and Rogue off of her and stand back up, looking at the demolished chair. " Damn girl, you know Logan's going to hit the rough when he hears about this, I mean if he hasn't heard it already."

Great Xander mused, somehow I know that Mr. Congeniality is going to find a way to blame me for this, and then it's on the first Blackbird flight back to L.A. Maybe if I'm lucky he'll actually land the jet to let me off. Standing slowly, he offered Rogue a hand, " You alright?" he asked his old friend.

" Never better, sugah", Rogue said sarcastically, the slightest blush coloring her cheeks as she took his hand and stood up, " Ah just love being tossed around like a rag doll." As if to emphasize her point she suddenly winced and put a hand to her back. " Ah'm gonna have a nasty bruise there Ah think."

" I'm like, so sorry Rogue," Kitty said getting off the bed and hurrying over to her friend. " I didn't mean to hurt you, and if I hadn't been worried about you going out the window I could have just kept phasing all day, or until you wore yourself out, whichever came first."

" It's ok Kitty," Rogue answered, " Ah overreacted to your teasing me. Ah guess Ah'm still sensitive where my men are concerned."

" Ok," Jubilee piped up, drawing all eyes to her, " Is it just me, or did anyone else notice that she said her men? As in the plural of man?" Xander dropped his head, let out a long sigh, and wished that she had just let it go. Fortunately Rogue decided to take the high road and let the comment slide.

" You know," she said, casting an irritated glare in Jubilee's direction, " the only reason that Ah'm letting you get away with that, _Jubilation_, is that we've somehow managed to avoid attracting any attention to ourselves already. Ah, for one am not willing to push it any further." Suddenly all three girls went still, and one by one their faces slowly slid from relief and humor to utter dismay.

"Hey, everything alright?" Xander asked, perplexed. This can't be a good sign he thought as he waited for an answer from anyone. He tried again, shaking Rogue gently, " Marie? What's wrong?"

Before she could respond, the door to the bedroom swung open to reveal Logan, a dark, almost feral, grin on his face. " You heard the man ladies. Danger room, now." One by one the young mutants filed out of the room and it dawned on Xander that the switch in their moods must have been triggered by a telepathic message from the Professor. He wasn't sure what the "Danger room" that Logan mentioned was, but he was suddenly glad he hadn't been included in the telepathic tongue lashing. Maybe he'd actually been able to avoid trouble for once. "As for you, patch," Logan said, "I'll figure out something else. For now though, why don't you come down with us? Get more of an idea of what goes on around here and just why it's a bad idea to ever piss me off." Without another word her turned and headed out the same way that Kitty, Rogue and Jubilee had, leaving Xander to catch up.

So much for managing to stay out of trouble He mused, hurrying after the others, " But hey, at least he hasn't tried sending me back to L.A….yet".


	10. Changes

The More Things Change

Chapter 10: Changes

Author: RoguesKnight

Disclaimer: Despite finally graduating from college, the characters associated with Buffy of X-Men are still not mine. Still the property of Marvel and Mutant Enemy. Though if anyone with those esteemed companies would like to make them a grad present, I wouldn't complain.

Author's note: Graduated! No job yet! What's this mean? Stress in need of relief which means time to write when not job searching. As always this is dedicated to my beautiful fiancée, only a couple months from being my beautiful wife; and to my reviewers.

And with no further ado….

Looking down through the reinforced glass of the Danger Room's control center, Xander couldn't figure out just where the name came from. The room below was the same cobalt blue of the hanger, but that was about it's only distinguishing feature. The walls, ceiling, and doors were lacked any adornment, let alone menace or danger. I've got to be missing something he thought, his eye once again passing over the room. " Ok," he said casually to the control room's only other occupant, an African-American woman with startling white hair, who'd introduced herself as Ororo Monroe. She was dressed comfortably in a light green cotton t-shirt, blue jeans and black sandals. " You win, I give up. What exactly is the danger of the danger room? Do you just throw people in until the lack of …anything to do drives them nuts?"

Ororo smiled; though Xander was only perhaps four or five years younger than she was, he still seemed to have all of the patience of some of her restless freshmen. It was refreshing to know that someone who'd obviously been through a lot in life could still retain some of the innocence of youth. Resisting the urge to fall into the comfortable role of a teacher, she pushed back from the control console at which she was seated and regarded him silently for a moment, deciding how best to answer his question. Finally she spoke, " Alexander, while we didn't get the full story on you like we do on any new student to come in here," she paused, the silence more than clearly implying that she would like to know more, " we did get a briefing. Can you honestly tell me that with all you've lived through you believe that just because you can't see the danger that it isn't there?"

Xander pushed away from the window he was leaning against and turned to face her fully, crossing his arms over his chest. " For the last time Ms. Monroe, please just call me Xander, or if you can't do that, then at least Alex. Nobody calls me Alexander, unless I'm in trouble, and I really hope that I haven't gotten into enough trouble for that in the…" He checked his watch, " three hours I've been here". His obvious discomfort with his full name brought another smile to Ororo's face but she seemed to take pity on the younger man, nodding.

" Alex, then" She said, motioning for him to take the seat beside hers, " Xander just sounds so odd. But that's beside the point. You've avoided the question. If you can't see the danger, does it mean it doesn't exist? And," she added as an after thought, " It's just Ororo, of if you prefer you can call me by my code name Storm. You're not that much younger than me, and you're not one of my students. There's no need for the formality of Ms. Monroe"

Xander smiled, if he hadn't liked her almost immediately her no nonsense attitude and the warmth which she spoke would have been earning points in her favor. " Deal," he said, settling into the seat beside her and stealing a glance back into the empty room below them. " No, just because the danger isn't visible doesn't mean it's not there. In my experience it's been the times when you couldn't see the danger that have been the most dangerous as a matter of fact." From the corner of his eye, he could see nodding in agreement. " Still," he continued, " I'm not the only one avoiding a question here. What's the danger of the Danger room?"

The sudden flashing of a button on the control console drew Ororo's attention from her young companion. " You'll see," she said enigmatically, reaching out and pressing the flashing button. In response, below them the door leading into the danger room opened and Logan walked out, followed by Kitty, Rogue, and finally Jubilee, looking much differently than they had when Xander had last seen them. Logan was wearing a simple tank top and sweat pants, and a disturbingly chipper smile, while each of the girls was dressed in an identical black jumpsuit with golden a golden X emblazoned on each shoulder. Both Rogue and Kitty had tied their longer hair back in French braids to keep their vision clear when things finally got started. Logan led the girls into the center of the room before turning to look at the occupants of the control booth.

" For the benefit of the uninformed," he said gruffly, his voice being transmitted via hidden intercoms into the booth as clearly as if he were standing within it's confines, " this is the Danger room. It provides the students with a safe place to learn to control their abilities, as well as the opportunity to learn how to operate as a team in combat situations." Logan gestured expansively to take in the entire room, " Though the room may appear to be empty at the moment, it is equipped with state of the art robotics and holographic technology, allowing nearly any opponent or battlefield to be realistically recreated for training that encompasses virtually any situation that can be imagined."

"Impressive," Xander whispered, excitement creeping into his voice. He turned to Ororo, interest showing clearly in his eyes. " Was this the Professor's idea? And secondly, if they're fighting robots in there how do they keep from getting hurt?" He shuddered remembering the threat that Adam had posed, and glanced nervously into the danger room. Experienced or not, he didn't want to see any one hurt when he could have kept them out of there by doing more to have stopped the fight in his room a short while ago.

" I can answer that Jr." Logan said, clearly hoping the nickname would irritate the younger man. " And if you're wondering how I can hear you, the intercoms work both ways. Yes, this baby was the Professor's brain child, though following the attack on the Mansion, I've had a hand in modifying the programs, along with one of our most recent additions to the staff, Dr. Henry McCoy, to make them more applicable to real life situations. As to how no one gets seriously hurt, there are sensors all over this room focused on the well being of the combatants. The second any unacceptable level of harm is detected to anyone in the room, emergency shut offs kick in and end the program.. In the unlikely event that the automatic shut offs fail, there is a back up in the control booth with you and Storm." Xander released a breath he didn't realize he'd been holding and leaned back into his chair, satisfied that the girls weren't in any real danger as Logan continued, " But enough chit chat. These ladies seem to have energy to burn, so let's see if we can help them burn it." If he was aware of the nasty glares the three young women were giving him, he didn't show it. " Storm, activate the sentinel attack program sequence number five. Difficulty level….8.5. Enjoy your workout ladies" He grinned and trotted back through the door he'd lead the girls through as they settled into attack stances.

In the control booth, Ororo typed the command into the computer, a concerned frown crossing her attractive features, " I hope he knows what he's doing" she muttered. Xander was about to ask what she meant by that comment when a flash in the room below drew his attention back to the window. What had once been an empty room now appeared to be an open field on the edge of a forest. Even the ceiling appeared to have vanished, replaced by an amazingly lifelike sky. A sky from which quickly dropped three purple hued robots, each only slightly taller than Rogue, who was the tallest of the three girls, but something about the way their eyes glowed an unfriendly yellow and their ominous command of " Surrender mutant", spoken in unison made them seem more than a match for any of the young women.

" Here's where the fun begins" Rogue muttered, her voice being carried as easily as Logan's had, into the control booth. " Divide and conquer," she ordered advancing on the robot directly in front of her, " If and when you manage to take your opponent out, provide assistance to whoever needs it"

"Copy that" Kitty said, all hints of youth and innocence gone from her voice as she phased through the floor of the danger room only to come back up moments later some fifteen feet to the left of her starting position, drawing off the leftmost sentinel in the process.

" You've got it boss lady" Jubilee quipped, firing a burst of energy at the photoreceptors of the android nearest to her and darting away while it was blinded and leaving it to follow.

Maybe they'll do better than I thought Xander mused, impressed by the way that Rogue stepped naturally into a leadership role and how easily the other two girls responded to it. A second, more sinister, thought worked its way into his mind as he watched the girls face off against their metallic opponents Maybe I could talk the Professor into sending Logan back to L.A. for a while to train the Slayers to work as a team like this. He chuckled darkly. Groups of teenage girls with nearly no discipline and super strength would be enough revenge for the Jr. comment. Making a mental note to ask Xavier about it later, he turned back to Ororo. " What do you mean you hope he knows what he's doing?" he asked. Over the intercom, the sounds of battle were picking up and the sound of a particularly loud crash made him wince.

Ororo considered him silently for a moment before answering, " It's not that I don't think the girls are capable of handling the training program," she said evenly, " It just seems a little excessive in comparison to their "offense". A blast of energy splattered against the shatterproof windows of the control booth causing its occupants to jump. " Watch your aim Jubilee," Ororo said calmly, activating the intercom so the girls could hear, " We're not you enemies up here".

" How else am I supposed to hit a flying target?" came the terse reply, punctuated by another blast of colorful energy splashing against the windows.

Flying? Xander wondered, Those things can fly? Ororo may be right about the punishment being excessive . Glancing out the window, he saw that the purple hued robots had taken to the air, via rocket boosters in their feet, and were in hot pursuit of the girls, firing what appeared to be some sort of energy beams from their hands. Fortunately they seemed to be horrible shots.

" There's more than one way to handle a flying target," Rogue replied, leaping from a branch in one of the trees at the edge of the field and driving her booted feet into the head of a passing sentinel, riding it until it was close to the floor and pushing off at the last minute; the extra force slamming its head into the ground. The booster rockets died and the robot lay motionless. " You just need to be willing to think on your feet, and sometimes with them" She added inspecting her handiwork as the other two girls groaned at the horrible attempt at humor.

From the control booth, Xander smiled. Her sense of humor sure hasn't improved much since Tennessee he thought, watching as Rogue darted off to assist Kitty with the sentinel that was plaguing her. " So, you mean to tell me you guys have actually had to fight things like that?" He asked Ororo, sliding back into the seat beside her.

"Fortunately no," she replied, tapping a button on the console and keying for the removal of the downed sentinel. " These, "sentinels" as they're called haven't been deployed in combat situations against us…yet." She frowned The computer's taking it's sweet time to remove that sentinel " They are based on rumors of mutant hunting machines in development by rogue elements of the military. Fortunately for us, the Professor has some highly placed friends who've been able to smuggle out early blueprints and readouts of their proposed abilities. Hopefully we won't ever have to face them in a real combat situation, but with the way things are going in the senate with the Mutant Registration Act, it's better to be prepared for something we don't have to face than to be caught off guard". Aggravated, she turned her attention back to the computer, keying for a complete power up of the downed robot with instructions to leave the field of combat. A small smile crossing her face as a schematic of the robot appeared, showing the powering up of each of its systems. Finally.

A cry of triumph sounded over the intercom, suggesting strongly that Jubilee had managed to take out her pursuer. " That's two down," Xander observed, watching her rush off to join Rogue and Kitty in combating the remaining sentinel. " You mean to tell me that the government is so afraid of mutants that they're willing to spend valuable taxpayer money just to wipe them out?" he asked disgustedly.

Ororo reached over and placed a hand on Xander's shoulder, touched that the Professor's faith in humanity wasn't entirely misplaced. " It's not all of the government," she said softly, looking into his eye " But yes, there are parts of it that figure if they can't control something, oh let's say mutants for example, then it's better to "deal" with the "problem" sooner rather than later. They're just afraid of what they don't understand"

Xander couldn't help it, a slow mischievous grin spread across his face, " Fear. Fear is the path to the dark side, fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate leads to suffering" he said, doing his best Yoda impersonation

Ororo's hand dropped from Xander's shoulder and she hid her face in her hands, muttering, " First Scott, then Hank, now another one….I can see it now…the TV in the lounge is going to have nothing but Star Trek…."

Xander stiffened suddenly as if he'd been struck physically, to have someone confuse the glory that was Star Wars, yes, even with that god awful Jar Jar Binks, to the canned crap that was Star Trek was a near mortal offense. He was preparing to really lay into her, no matter how nice she seemed, for that remark when warning klaxons began sounding throughout the control booth and danger room below. The sentinel Ororo had commanded to reactivate had come to full power, but instead of following the programmed directive to leave the field of battle, it seemed intent on joining the remaining sentinel in combating the young women. The sentinel's boot rockets flared and it took off at a dangerously fast speed towards the fighting which had moved to the middle of the clearing, far from the edge of the forest.

Ororo quickly swiveled back to the control board bringing up the schematics for the robot again and blanched. The read out showed the sentinel operating at near maximum power, far beyond the skill level of any of the three girls in the room. Slapping the intercom, she shouted " Logan, get back into the danger room immediately. One of the sentinels is out of control and not responding to commands from up here. You're the best shot of shutting it down before someone gets hurt." Hearing the announcement, the three young combatants disengaged from the sentinel they were facing and spread out, hoping to make themselves harder targets for the approaching uncontrolled robot.

The door to the danger room opened and through the window Xander could see Logan's form, claws already extended, racing to intercept the sentinel's flight path. Unfortunately his approach did not go unnoticed by his target. " Halt mutant" the robot commanded, hovering in place and swiveling to face the more immediate threat, both arms extended towards its target in preparation for attack. The attack posture of the sentinel only spurred Logan to move more quickly, and watching from above, Xander became even more convinced that he never wanted to piss off the short burly mutant. With a grace Xander hadn't seen even in veteran Slayers like Faith and Buffy, Logan easily dodged the energy beams that had begun firing from the sentinel's palms. When he was within striking distance Logan let go a primal scream that even through the intercom sent shivers down Xander's spine and leapt into the air, clearly intent on disarming the sentinel in the most literal of senses. Unfortunately the sentinel had anticipated the attack and fired energy beams from both hands simultaneously, catching Logan in mid-jump and slamming him into the wall of the danger room with enough force to short out the holographic projection of the field and forest. Logan seemed to hang on the wall for a moment before slumping to the ground unconscious, claws retracting into his hands automatically. The sentinel considered the prone form of its assailant for a moment before turning back to its original task. "Target neutralized" it intoned darkly, heading once again for the girls.

"Shit, "Ororo exclaimed violently. She spared a glance at Xander "Whatever happens next, stay here." The tone of her voice clearly said there was no room for argument as she quickly rose from her seat and ran out of the control booth, triggering a general alarm throughout the institute on her way.

A computer screen flashed to life beside Xander moments after she left, revealing the troubled face of Professor Xavier, " Xander," he said without preamble, " What's wrong?" Xander quickly filled the Professor in on what had happened. " Storm is right Xander, stay where you are. I'm sending Beast and Cyclops down for to back Storm up. You should be safe in the control room." Just as quickly as the screen had cut on it flicked back off. Xander punched Ororo's now empty chair in helpless frustration. He hated being kept out of danger for his own good but he hated even more the fact that in this case he was even more out of his league than usual in terms of being able to do anything to help. All he could do was watch and hope the much needed back up got there before anyone else got hurt.

" Jubilee, see what you can do to keep him busy without getting hurt" Rogue ordered on the danger room floor, knowing that without the benefits of holograms to use as cover the chances of that weren't good. The younger Asian girl nodded in acknowledgement and fired a stream of energy directly into the hovering sentinel's face.

" Yo, you're pretty tough when it comes to taking down big scary men with nasty claws coming out of their hands," she taunted, firing another blast of energy into the robot, " let's see how well you do against poor defenseless girls". While not programmed to be irritated by taunting, the near constant attacks had the desired effect of drawing the sentinel's attention away from the room's other occupants as it began to follow jubilee's bobbing and weaving form, waiting for an opening to counter attack. With the distraction working, Rogue quickly raced to the unconscious Logan's side and began dragging him towards the door for quick and easy rescue when the back up would eventually arrive.

Despite the seriousness of the situation, Rogue smirked He's so going to hate this when he wakes up. Maybe Ah can get some pictures of him still unconscious…might come in handy sometime as blackmail. Turning her attention back to the present problems she could see that Jubilee was still holding her own against the psychotic sentinel, keeping up a continuous attack that held it on the defensive while pursuing her. Rogue knew her friend couldn't keep it up forever though, and could recognize the first hints of fatigue beginning to work their way into Jubilee's body. She stole a glance at the door to the danger room, silently willing the back up to hurry before scanning the room again, this time in search of Kitty. It didn't take her long to find the other girl, as the second sentinel had taken advantage of their distraction to press its attack against her, forcing her to keep phasing through its energy beams and steadily back up across the room towards Jubilee. A sudden realization dawned on Rogue They're being set up to be caught in a cross fire She was about to shout a warning to her friends when a second realization occurred to her Ah can't risk breaking either of their concentration. Damn it! Not for the first time she wished her powers would allow her a ranged attack of some sort, or that she had a weapon she could use. As it was, she was limited to watching and waiting for help.

The fact that she was being pushed back into a trap had occurred to Kitty as well, and still she let it happen. She had to if her plan was going to work, and the scary thing was, she was almost certain; and not in the being a genius kind of way, that it would. Few more steps She thought, listening to the sounds of Jubilee's assault coming closer from behind while keeping her eyes locked onto the robot in front of her. " Come on," she muttered, " Just a little farther". Another energy beam passed harmlessly through her, but she couldn't keep it up forever. Only going to have one shot at this, better make it good she thought, stopping dead in her tracks and striking the most defenseless pose she could manage. The sentinel, sensing an easy victory moved in for the kill; only to be stopped by Kitty's hand phasing through its chest and pulling out it's power core. " Out of power?" She asked the robot with a wicked smile as the yellow of its eyes dimmed and finally went out, " I'm not." Moving almost too quickly for the eye to follow she grasped the dead robot and hefted it easily over her head, turning in a quick circle to face Jubilee and her attacker. "Jubes, drop!" She shouted. Without a word Jubilee followed the shouted order, landing flat on her back just in time to see a lifeless sentinel pierce the chest of the one that had been attacking her, before the before the whole mess was embedded in the wall from the force of the throw.

" Damn girl," She said slowly pushing herself to her feet and looking from the sentinels and back to Kitty in awe, " Have you been eating your wheaties or something recently?" Before Kitty could answer, the door to the danger room opened and in rushed Storm, Cyclops and Beast, only to come to a dead stop as they realized that they'd arrived too late to be of any use.

" Looks like the cavalry's finally arrived" came Xander's voice over the intercom, his tone conveying a mixture of relief, awe and amusement. " You know what they say, better late than never"

" Indeed," Beast agreed, sounding somewhat amused himself as he knelt to pick up Logan's still unconscious form, " It seems that our services are no longer needed. At least in a combative capacity. Still, I'd like everyone to head down to the infirmary so we can make sure that no one has sustained any lasting or serious injury. Scott, if you would be so good as to escort our young guest down, I'd like to hear his account of events considering that there are two robots stuck to each other and one of our walls, and none of the young women here should have the strength to accomplish such a feat."

Without a word, but his expression suggesting he didn't like the idea, Scott nodded and headed back out the door to collect Xander. Beast watched him go before turning to Storm and Rogue " Ororo, Rogue, would you two mind helping Jubilee and Kitty down as well?" He tilted his head in the direction of the two young women who were leaning on each other heavily for support as they slowly made their way towards the group near the door. Shifting his grip on Logan's unconscious form, Beast headed out the door himself to prepare the infirmary for more activity than it'd seen in a long while, a thousand questions about just what had gone on in the danger room burning through his mind.

" Amazing," Beast said, a blue hand rubbing at his furred chin thoughtfully as Xander finished explaining what he'd seen from the control room to the assembled group, with the occasional input from the three young mutants who'd survived the ordeal. Almost equally amazing was the fact that other than fatigue, and some minor bumps and bruises none of the girls had suffered any serious injury. " Professor," he said pushing a button for the intercom on a nearby console, " Is there anything in Ms. Pryde's genetic profile to suggest that enhanced strength or speed such as has been reported would be a result of further development of her natural mutant abilities"

" Not that I'm aware of Hank," came the somewhat troubled sounding reply. At this all the eyes fell on Kitty, who squirmed uncomfortably under the scrutiny, sitting on the table that held the still unconscious Logan. Rogue and Jubilee, standing on either side of her, each put an arm around their nervous looking friend for support, and even Xander tried to reassure her with a smile. None of it seemed to be working. " We could perhaps run some tests on a current DNA against our files on record, but I've never heard of this kind of change to a person, human or mutant, without outside genetic tampering."

It was Xander's turn to squirm as he got what felt like a decidedly unfriendly glare from Scott. The visored man had seemed to have a problem with him from the moment they'd met, and it was obvious that the older man still didn't trust him. " Hey, hey, hey now." He said backing up towards Beast and Storm, " I didn't do anything to her. I just had two gorgeous women wrestling on my bed" Rogue and Kitty both blushed a deep crimson at the remark, while Jubilee pouted obviously put out at not being included in the gorgeous category, " and another gorgeous woman trying to keep out of the wrestling match," he continued with a quick wink to Jubilee, who immediately brightened. " How on earth could I do any kind of genetic modification, even if I knew how, in such a short time when my brain was doing all it could to keep me from passing out at a fantasy come to life?" Out of the corner of his eye, Xander could see Storm doing her best to hide a smile, and he could almost swear he heard Beast snickering behind him. Well, at least the Doc likes me he thought, meeting Scott's gaze as calmly as he could Between Cyclops here and Logan, I'm sure I'm going to have to rely on the Doc to patch me up at least once before I go back to L.A. A pang of guilt suddenly washed through him, he hadn't even tried contacting anyone back there to let them know he'd arrived safely. Not even Dawn he thought kicking himself mentally. After the way she'd said goodbye, letting her know he'd arrived safely should have been one of his top priorities.

" Ummm" Kitty said uncertainly, drawing the attention thankfully away from Xander, " I know there are various methods of testing DNA, but I just want to be absolutely sure that this wouldn't involve needles in any way". She shuddered and her friends tightened their grips on her protectively.

" Of course not." Beast said calmly, with his most reassuring smile, " I could use hair, or a skin sample, both of which could be obtained quite painlessly. You've got nothing to worry about" Kitty visibly relaxed and offered up the most genuine smile she had since the events in the danger room.

"Before we go that route," Xander spoke up, " There's been something bothering me since the fight and I think I may have just put a finger on it. Does anybody mind if I ask Kitty a few quick questions?" Once again all the eyes in the room were on him, though the atmosphere was one more of curiosity than hostility. " Ok, seeing no objections," he took a deep breath, " How've you been sleeping lately Kitty? Any strange dreams….maybe that you've been different people in different times?"

" Ok," Scott cut in before she could answer, " That has to be the most pointless question I've ever heard. Who here hasn't had a dream like that?"

" How did you know," Kitty asked wide eyed, ignoring Scott's interruption. " For the past few weeks, yea…they've been coming off and on. Never the same one twice….but they seem so real…..and…."

" They never end with a happily ever after," Xander finished, his voice and body posture suggesting that a great weight had just landed on him. Kitty nodded, confirming the statement and he sighed. Wonderful, bloody wonderful He thought. " Second question…when you've been fighting, or training, whatever the case may be has that changed any in the past few weeks?"

Kitty paled, not liking where this line of questioning was going but nodded. " It's not a consistent thing, but sometimes, like tonight, I'll just get into the rhythm of the fight and …just _know_ what I need to do and how I need to do it and then I do." She shrugged, trying to ignore the startled glances from her friends, " I just thought it was that I was getting better due to all the training." She paused, and took a deep breath before looking into Xander's eye, " But it's not that, is it?"

Xander shook his head sadly, finally realizing the kind of pressure Giles must have felt in working with a young Buffy, and wishing he could spare Kitty the kind of pain he suspected lay ahead of her. " I can't be positive yet," he started, " but I have every reason to believe from what you said that you might be a Slayer". Kitty nodded in resignation, as if she'd known what he was going to say and before anyone could stop her, she jumped down from the table and ran out of the infirmary. " Well, that went about as well as I thought it would," Xander exclaimed to the assembled group before running out after her as fast as he could.

The infirmary was silent with shock at the recent revelations for a few moments after Xander's departure. It was then that Logan's miraculous healing ability seemed to have completed its job and he sat up, rubbing his head and grimacing painfully. " Hank, I know you hate it when I smoke, but seeing as cancer's the least of my problems right now, how about bending the rules and letting me light up in here for a change?" When he didn't get a reply from Beast he looked around the room, taking in the small assemblage of people there, all of whom were staring at him. " What?" he asked, " Did I miss something important?


End file.
